


Brothers in Arms

by jtrevizo



Category: Haven - Fandom
Genre: F/M, Post Season 2, Romance, Suspense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-05
Updated: 2011-12-03
Packaged: 2017-10-24 08:01:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 34,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/260956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jtrevizo/pseuds/jtrevizo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set immediately after the end of "Sins of the Fathers" 2X12 season finale - Audrey's disappearance has set the path for the two men in her life. Which one they each take will determine not only their fate, but hers and all of Haven. N/A.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Duke turned and looked past his shoulder and saw the bullet hole in the cushions not more than two feet from his head.

To be honest, he’d really thought he was dead. The way Nathan had charged in, demanding to know what he’d done with Audrey…

And then there was the tattoo… which now as he looked back up at Nathan’s arm was… gone…

What the hell?

“Nathan…” he started, hoping once again to get through to the man before him, the one with the gun in his hands, fire in his eyes and his heart on his sleeve.

Because no mere partner would behave like this… he loved Audrey… it was obvious to anyone looking.

“Where is she?” Nathan gritted out again, his gun coming closer to where Duke lay sprawled on the floor of the cabin.

“I would tell you if I knew!”

Nathan didn’t buy it. He’d watched Duke being manipulated by Simon Crocker and the Rev. He knew that fear for his own life might override any feelings of friendship he might claim to have for Audrey. But having seen the obvious sings of a struggle in Audrey’s apartment and all the signs had led him here, to Duke…

Think, Nathan berated himself mentally… where would Duke take her…

“I have been here all this time. Do you really think I’m stupid enough to leave you a frickin’ clue at her place leading you straight to me?” Duke raged, taking the opportunity to try and get through to Nathan. “I’m on your side! I am not killing Audrey or anyone else! I didn’t take her!”

At Duke’s words Nathan’s mind cleared ever so slightly of the blinding fear and red haze of anger that was encompassing him. Duke had been surprised when he’d walked in looking for Audrey. The look on his face had been one of shock and horror… He was a good con man, excellent in fact. But there hadn’t been anything in his tone or in his expression that read lie…

When confronted with the Rev’s followers wanting him to kill Kyle, he’d balked. How many times had Duke dropped that knife? How many times had he denied his father, the Rev? He’d looked straight at Audrey and called her his friend…

“But I saw…” Nathan said lowly his eyes still on Duke even as they went slightly out of focus as he thought back…

“What did you see?” questioned Duke, realizing that maybe, just maybe he was finally getting through to Nathan and he wasn’t going to end up with a bullet in his brain.

Nathan tried to recall the scene… open door, overturned chair, smashed plant… open cabinets…

Wait, why were the cabinets opened under the sink and in the cupboards? Audrey didn’t keep her gun there. There wasn’t anything in them to be looking for… if Duke… or someone had come in to take her, why were those opened and yet the rest of the place looked fine?

It was as if someone didn’t know how to properly stage…

Holy God…

Someone had Audrey, but it wasn’t Duke. They’d set him up, expecting what…? That one of them would end up dead, hell, maybe both of them. And Audrey…

“Duke, you… I mean…” Nathan began, realizing how easily now he’d been played.

Backing up, he raised his gun slightly. Duke shifted slightly so his back pressed against the bench behind him. He watched as Nathan tried to pull back from whatever edge he had been on, the one that had him shooting his gun at him, ready to kill for his partner.

“What happened?”

“I got to Audrey’s and the door was open and she wasn’t there. There were signs of a struggle and then I found your whistle…” Nathan explained and then trailed off before focusing again on what had finally tipped him off when he’d recreated the scene in his head that it had been a set up, “but there were things that didn’t add up. There were cabinets opened as if they’d been searched. But the rest of the place was untouched.”

“So someone set me up? Staged the place to send you after me…” Duke began and then trailed off before he took a deep breath as he started to piece it together as well. “The wanted me dead… or you…”

“Looks like…”

“But Audrey…”

At her name Nathan closed his eyes and fought down the fear and pain that simple thought brought him. The Chief had said that he needed to protect Audrey, and now, less than a day later he’d let someone take her.

“Shit,” he swore… and his eyes opened and swung to Duke.

Right now he needed someone to trust in. Someone who would help him, wanted to find Audrey as much as he did. And right now, of everyone in Haven, Duke was the one person who he believed actually gave a damn about Audrey… not as much as he did, but enough that he was willing to trust that he would help find her…

“Nathan?” Duke asked, watching the conflict in Nathan’s face as he stared down at him.

“Someone took Audrey,” he said finally, holstering his weapon and then reaching a hand out to Duke, “if you meant what you said… that she was your friend, then I need your help to find her.”

Duke took only a moment before he reached up and took Nathan’s hand in his, letting the other man pull him up. Standing face to face, he read the fear and shame on Nathan’s face and rather than call him on it, he squared his shoulders and for once in his life ignored his base instincts.

“You have it. Let’s go find her.”

\- End Chapter 1 -


	2. Chapter 2

“Let’s go,” Nathan said in a commanding voice as he started past Duke to the exit of the cabin.

“Hold up,” Duke replied, turning for the back part of the living space. He moved to the bedroom and knelt down along the Captain’s bed frame, pressing two fingers into the wood which suddenly popped a compartment.

Within the drawer sat a series of guns and ammo clips and he pulled out a handgun and shoved it into the back waistband of his jeans and then slid two of the clips into his pockets. Standing he used his foot to close the compartment and then turned to look at Nathan who stood there staring.

“You think I’m going out there with you without a weapon?”

“No. You sure you don’t want to bring another?”

Duke’s eyebrows rose significantly and a look of surprise filled his face. There was no way that Nathan even considered for a moment that the weapons were legal but he wasn’t batting an eye. But then, considering the fact that Nathan needed the back up to find Audrey, he wouldn’t be surprised if Nathan threw out the rule book in total to track her down.

Of course his busting onto the boat and threatening his life demonstrated just how far he was willing to go.

“We’re wasting time,” Nathan complained again and then turned to leave.

This time Duke followed Nathan off the Cape Rouge and to the blue Bronco sitting on the dock. Nathan didn’t even wait for Duke to get in before he was in the driver’s seat and turned over the truck. The passenger side door slammed shut just as Nathan swung the vehicle around and started back toward the road.

There were lots of trees to shake and people to interrogate and Nathan had no idea how much time they had…

“What about Haven PD? Aren’t you going to report Audrey missing?”

“I didn’t have time…” Nathan began, his hands unconsciously gripping the steering wheel tighter for a brief moment before he eased his grip.

“You just headed straight for me,” Duke stated as he realized once Nathan had been pointed towards him he’d gone on auto-pilot.

He glanced around and noted a dress jacket and tie abandoned on the back seat of the Bronco and wondered what Nathan had been doing at Audrey’s…

Nathan nodded but didn’t say anything. He was still seething about how easily he’d been manipulated. Still, he knew he probably should call the station... but once he did not only would he have people on the ground helping hunt for Audrey and see if there was anything at the scene, others would know he knew she was gone and that could put her in more danger.

“If I do they’ll start combing over Audrey’s place and since I don’t know who took her and who I can trust…”

Duke understood. He normally didn’t trust any cops, Nathan and Audrey now the exception. But then again, his uncomplicated life of smuggling high end booze and delicacies had seemed to have become secondary to him helping out Haven PD whenever Audrey called him for assistance these days.

“What about your big buddy Dwight? Isn’t he supposed to help you with weird shit…”

Nathan swung his eyes towards Duke briefly with a look that said he’d totally forgotten about the Chief’s clean up man. He’d been there to help more than once under difficult circumstances. Fumbling for his phone he pulled it from his jeans pocket, and when they hit a stop light as they drove through Haven he dialed the number he had for his ‘fixer’ and waited for Dwight to pick up.

“Dwight, we have a problem,” Nathan said into the phone quickly, “Audrey’s gone missing. I need you to put out your feelers, see if you hear anything. And if you can check her place…”

Duke watched as Nathan nodded as Dwight obviously responded. The sasquatch of a man might be the ally they needed to locate Audrey fast, having seen the man in action in the forest toting his crossbow…

“Okay, call me if you get anything.”

Quickly closing the phone Nathan shoved it away as he drove through the now green light. Dwight would see what he could find through his own channels. But for right now Nathan had his own suspicions as to who would have wanted to grab Audrey and he swung the truck around a corner and looked up the street at his destination. Duke looked down the street as well and recognized the Good Sheppard Church down the road ahead.

“So, starting at the Rev’s?” Duke questioned, his voice showing his skepticism as they drove closer to the church.

“Come on Duke, you saw all those troubled people the Rev’s followers had kidnapped and planned to kill. Ever since Audrey shot Driscoll things have been… tense.”

“Understatement.”

Nathan flashed him an irritated look making Duke shrug. Truth was truth, no matter how it was said.

“They might be thinking that if they get rid of her…” Nathan started and the trailed off, not even wanting to contemplate the idea of finding her too late.

He couldn’t lose her…

Nathan pulled up in front of the church and threw the truck in park, turning off the engine. He gripped the wheel tightly, his knuckles going white as he fought for control. They needed to be careful; they couldn’t screw this up or tip their hand. If the Rev’s people had Audrey and she was somewhere else, one phone call to whomever had her letting them know they were on their trail could be disastrous.

Duke watched how Nathan closed his eyes and took deep breaths as he sat there behind the steering wheel. He could tell the other man was doing his best to hold it together under the stress of Audrey’s disappearance. Letting out one final deep breath Nathan opened his eyes and turned them towards Duke, determination and fire visible within.

Heaven help anyone who got in Nathan’s way of finding Audrey Duke thought abruptly as he was pinned by Nathan’s gaze.

“Okay, we go in, we look around and God wiling we find Audrey and get her the hell out of there,” Nathan said, reaching for the door handle.

“Gotcha…” replied Duke before he reached across the space between them and caught Nathan’s arm, making the man look back at him, annoyance and questioning showing on his face. “We will find her Nathan. She’ll be okay…”

Nathan nodded and pulled himself from Duke’s grasp as he got out of the Bronco, his eyes focused on the church ahead of him as he did his best to believe that Duke, in this instance, was right.

-x-

Audrey Parker woke to darkness.

She tried to move but found she was bound, hands and feet both tied securely from the feel of it. Wherever she was, it was dark, cold, and cramped as she found when she struck out with her feet and hit walls immediately. Without being able to get to her watch she had no idea how long she’d been out or what day it was even.

She couldn’t believe what had happened; one minute she was nervous and excited for her dinner with Nathan and then the next…

Her heart lurched in her chest as she suddenly realized that Nathan would have shown up at her apartment to find her gone. She couldn’t imagine what he would be thinking, but it meant without a doubt that he’d be looking for her.

Find me Nathan, she thought in the dark…

\- End Chapter 2 -


	3. Chapter 3

Nathan and Duke strode through the doors of the Good Sheppard Church expecting anything. All Nathan really wanted to do was search the place, maybe if they had to ask a few discrete questions; nothing that would let whoever had Audrey know that they were on their trail.

Walking through the church, Nathan focused on anywhere they could have stashed her. His mind thought of basements and closets and underground cellars, trying to recall every location on the grounds of the church that Audrey could be being held.

Pointing towards the Rev’s office, Nathan headed back to the space where he had confronted Reverend Driscoll more than once. If there was any evidence that the Rev’s people could have been responsible in kidnapping Audrey, he hoped to find it there. And if he was really lucky, they’d find her there too.

Duke looked around the space, remembering the last time he’d searched the place, but this time things were different. He wasn’t looking for a list this time; he was looking for something that would lead them to Audrey.

He just hoped that she’d be alive when they found her.

Duke didn’t even want to consider that thought, but he was a realist. If she was as much of a threat as Driscoll and his father thought she was, someone might have decided not to wait for him to do it and taken the initiative to kill her. Of course, even if he might consider that could be at all a possibility, he was a smart enough man to know that even suggesting the idea to Nathan was tantamount to walking into a lion’s cage wrapped in red meat. So he said nothing and kept searching, hoping that they would locate anything that could help them find Audrey.

Coming up with nothing in the church Nathan turned and stalked towards the back of the church and yanked open the door that headed to the auxiliary building, recalling more than once instance of being there hunting for answers that had only led to dead people and heartache. He desperately prayed that it wasn’t going to happen again because he didn’t know what he’d do if they found Audrey, only to find her…

Shaking his head to force the morbid thoughts from his mind he moved to the next building. Pulling on the door he found it locked, and Nathan gave Duke a look that told him that his not so above board skills were being called into use. Sighing Duke fished out a credit card from his wallet and proceeded to try and jimmy the lock along the door jam. After a few minutes of maneuvering the handle suddenly turned and Duke was able to swing the door open.

Nathan gave Duke a half smirk before he slowly entered the building. The last thing they needed was to get shot at for breaking and entering.

Finding the coast clear Nathan waved Duke in behind him and they started searching the space. As they moved from room to room, Nathan felt more and more anxious. They’d yet to find any trace of Audrey and he was becoming concerned that he’d made a mistake… What if it had been someone else, someone not affiliated with the Rev that had taken her and his immediate reaction to look for her here was only costing him more time in his search?

His mind preoccupied with his fears for Audrey’s safety, Nathan was brought up short when he was confronted with someone on the opposite side of the door to one of the back rooms as he opened it. His hand almost reflexively went for his gun but he stopped himself, knowing he was on the property illegally and him flashing his gun and badge wasn’t how he wanted to start what could be a perfectly reasonable discussion…

“What are you doing here?” a middle aged guy aggressively asked, a suspicious look in his eyes as he took in both men where they stood in the auxiliary building of the church.

“Conducting an investigation. We’re checking the grounds…” Nathan said with as much authority as he could muster, under the circumstances.

“For what?”

“Rats,” threw in Duke quickly, causing the man before them to glare at them.

The guy was a local, Nathan could tell, but the man’s name escaped him. But the way he was looking at him and Duke he knew without question that he was definitely a follower of the Rev’s and more than likely part of the band of zealots that had decided to start taking matters with the troubled into their own hands.

“You’re a traitor and you’re a freak,” the man spat finally, his eyes looking from Duke and then landing on Nathan. “You should leave, now…”

Nathan jerked at the insult and swiftly took three long strides to tower over the shorter man in front of him. It took all his self control to keep from grabbing him by his collar, shoving him against the nearest wall and demanding he tell him where Audrey was.

“Look, if you want to interfere with an official investigation,” he said darkly, making the man before him shake slightly nervously, “you can do that and I can take you down to the station for obstruction and let you sit overnight in a cell. Or you can get out of my way…”

The man cowered and then slowly stepped aside when he saw Nathan lay the heel of his hand on his service weapon, the threat obvious in the movement.

Once he realized the man wasn’t going to cause any more problems, Nathan and Duke continued to search the warehouse, sweeping through the space quickly yet thoroughly and then moved on to the storm cellar and the basement. After looking at every cubby space, closet and cellar on the property Duke and Nathan came away with no clues, no Audrey and nothing to tie Driscoll’s people with Audrey’s disappearance.

Discouraged that his primary suspects didn’t look to have taken Audrey, Nathan swore under his breath and hurried out of the last building and headed for the Bronco causing Duke to rush to catch up to the determined man before him.

“Now what?” asked Duke as he quickened his pace.

“We’ll go back to Audrey’s place. There has to be something there that will give me something to go on. I didn’t even look before…” Nathan remarked, his mind frantically trying to come up with someone else with a motive to abduct Audrey.

With that Nathan got into the vehicle leaving Duke to scramble to get into the truck. As soon as Duke was in the vehicle Nathan had the engine running and was pulling away from the curb. Driving back to the Gull Duke found himself wondering how long Audrey had been missing and how far behind the kidnappers that put them.

“So when do you think they grabbed her?” questioned Duke, trying to figure out what they were working against.

Nathan turned to regard him and frowned. She’d been gone when he’d arrived, on time for their dinner date. But he had no idea when between her leaving him earlier in the day and when he’d arrived for dinner she’d been taken. Of course, if he hadn’t been out of his mind with worry for her he would have better assessed the scene and figured out how long she’d been gone. He mentally kicked himself for being so stupid as to have not paused for even a moment to truly appraise the scene rather than just blindly take the obvious lead he’d been given and gone storming off to confront Duke.

“Not sure. When I got there she was gone and I didn’t look…”

“Why were you there anyway?”

Nathan didn’t say anything and instead drug his left hand through his hair, bringing Duke’s attention to the clean expanse of Nathan’s forearm. He was sure he’d seen that damn tattoo there when they’d been on the boat. Where it had gone, he had no idea. As he stared he recalled again the shock he’d felt when he’d seen it thinking that he was done for. Now though… well he still had no idea what the hell was going on, and he hated it.

Nathan caught Duke staring at him, the look in his eyes almost… fearful and snapped at him, “What?”

“I… it was there…” Duke said finally, nodding at the arm Nathan was now pulling down to grasp the steering wheel once again. “I swear to God I saw it…”

“What was?”

“The tattoo.”

Nathan looked at him blankly for a moment before he looked back at the road and made a right turn, taking the quickest route to the Gull by heading through the downtown.

“The labyrinth tattoo. You know, the one on the person that’s supposed to kill me,” Duke replied, frustrated once again at Nathan’s dismissive attitude towards the tattooed man who he’d been told was going to kill him.

Nathan knew about the damn tattoo; every time Duke had tried to get Nathan to help him figure out who the man was with the symbol that was going to kill him, something else more important came up. Now having thought he’d seen it on Nathan he didn’t know what to think…

Duke squeezed his eyes closed for a second, wondering for what felt like the hundredth time if he’s just imagined it under the train of the moment…

“You saw it where?” Nathan asked, confused and a bit concerned; first Audrey was kidnapped and now Duke’s was talking about the man meant to kill him…

“On the inside of your lower left arm when you were threatening to shoot me.”

Nathan slammed on the brakes hard, bringing the truck to a jarring halt in the middle of the road. Duke raised an arm to brace against the front dash at the sudden stop and then he saw Nathan staring at him, stunned.

“What?” Nathan questioned quietly as he processed what Duke was saying. His eyes bored into Duke, trying to gauge whether the con man was trying to play him or was lying, but all he saw was trepidation and confusion. “You saw the tattoo on me?”

“Yeah. Freaked me out. I really thought that I was dead…” Duke explained, recalling how that one simple sight had made him question his future existence as he’s stared up at Nathan’s gun.

“But…” Nathan said, trailing off as he looked at his arm and saw nothing but unblemished skin, “there’s nothing there.”

“I know. Weird. But then, this is Haven, right?”

Nathan paused again, staring at his arm uncomprehendingly before putting his foot on the gas and starting the truck up again. He contemplated the situation as they continued to drive to the Gull. Duke had seen the tattoo on his arm; the one Valerie had said would be on the man who would kill him. But Nathan had no interest in killing Duke, at least as long as they both stayed on the same team…

Of course if Duke ever did try to follow in his father’s footsteps and kill Audrey, he would make sure that Duke joined his dad six feet under.

He wondered if that had something to do with it; in that moment he’d been so very tempted to pull the trigger. Maybe…

Glancing over to Duke in the passenger seat Nathan saw the look on the other man’s face; he was waiting for some kind of sign that he had actually been paying attention and had heard him.

“Right,” Nathan acknowledged, knowing that it was becoming more and more true every day.

Nathan drove through Haven, breaking more than a few traffic laws as he tried to shave minutes off the time it took to get to Audrey’s from the church. Again, he berated himself for having not gone into true professional mode and done more than a cursory search of her apartment. If he had, maybe he wouldn’t be playing catch up now and he would have already located her…

Duke watched the expression on Nathan’s face darken again and wondered what was going on in his head. He knew he was worried for Audrey and he wasn’t the one who’d shown up at her place and found out she was missing…

“So, why were you at Audrey’s tonight?” Duke asked suddenly, remembering Nathan’s evasion from earlier.

“I was meeting her...” he started and then realized that even that simple comment might be more than he wanted to tell Duke right now.

Before Duke could question him further on his reason being at Audrey’s, which he suspected more than likely had something to do with the discarded jacket and tie in the truck, Nathan’s phone rang and he hurriedly dug it out, hoping that whoever was on the other end had good news for him.

-x-

Dwight stood staring, still bewildered at the damage before him.

He had no idea what had been there, but he knew that whatever it had been, someone had been willing to do just about anything to get it, even something as revolting as....

Sighing he opened his phone to call the boss and let him know that his search for Audrey Parker had taking a strange turn.

\- End Chapter 3 -


	4. Chapter 4

“What do you have?” asked Nathan, anxious to hear some good news.

After a moment Nathan suddenly pulled the Bronco over to the side of the road as he sat there, his ear glued to his phone as he continued to listen to what the person on the other end was telling him. Then he shot his eyes over to Duke, staring critically at the other man. He wanted to believe that Duke had no clue as to what he’d just learned, but he had to wonder.

“Who was that?” he suddenly asked and then nodded as he got a reply from the person on the phone, surprise showing in his face.

“Okay. Call me if you hear anything more.”

With that Nathan hung up the phone and sighed. It seemed that this day was getting worse by the hour.

“What now?” Duke asked, his tone of voice displaying his expectation that Nathan was going to say something uncomplimentary about him, as was his normal behavior.

“That was Dwight. He intercepted a call to the station about a disturbance at Eastside Cemetery.”

Duke made a questioning face and then said, “Kyle’s dead and the ghosts left with him…”

“Dwight went out there… he found your father’s grave had been dug up…”

At Nathan’s words Duke’s eyes opened wide as he realized what that meant. He’d made a point to bury his father’s things with him not only to show he wasn’t following down his old man’s path but to get the stuff out of circulation. When Dwight had come looking for the box before, it had been on someone else’s behalf, but he hadn’t asked or found out who it was.

And now…

“They’re gone?”

“The box, the weapons, everything…” Nathan said with some concern.

“Shit,” Duke said, dragging a hand through his hair.

“Who knew you buried it there?”

“You and Audrey…”

Nathan and Duke looked at one another as they considered what that meant; that whoever had Audrey had might have also forced her to give them the whereabouts of the box…

Nathan closed his eyes and tried to control his anger but couldn’t; the palms of his hands slammed against the steering wheel in frustration. The idea that whoever had taken Audrey might have actually done something to her, maybe even tortured her to get the information about Simon Crocker’s weapons box… it made him furious.

“So now someone has Audrey out of the way and quite possibly all of your father’s information and weapons…” Nathan nearly growled, frustration and anger tingeing his voice.

“I still have the journal, but yeah they have the box and weapons. But without me they can’t really use them.”

“Are you sure?”

Duke had no reply to that. His father’s ghost hadn’t said anything about the weapons more than how it was the Crocker legacy to kill the troubled and to kill the woman that was Lucy or Audrey or whatever she called herself each time she returned to Haven. And neither of those things were things he was willing to do.

In the silence between them, Nathan tried to focus, use his investigative skills to figure out why someone would want to dig up the box. Inside might have been weapons meant for Duke only, or maybe there was more to it. Maybe whatever was inside the box had powers even in ordinary hands.

“Do you think that they dug up your dad’s weapons thinking they needed them to… kill Audrey?” Nathan asked the fear in his voice audible.

Duke glanced at Nathan, his concern showing in his eyes.

“I don’t know,” Duke said honestly and saw Nathan’s expression fall even as he visibly caught and held his breath. “But if we have anything to say about it, they won’t be using them to hurt her. We’ll find her Nate, we… you have to believe that.”

Nathan nodded but didn’t seem fully convinced. Until he had Audrey safe in his arms he was going to worry about what was happening to her and keep searching for her. But he did at least have a lead on the box and maybe that person might be able to point them in the direction of the person or persons who had taken Audrey, and he needed to focus on that for now. He took a deep breath and looked at Duke, his eyes filled once again with determination.

“We don’t know who has the box now, but Dwight did tell me who had asked him to retrieve it from you earlier…” revealed Nathan as he pulled the truck back onto the road and turned the Bronco around in a tight U turn.

“Who?”

“Vince Teagues.”

Duke’s mouth dropped open. Of everyone he might have considered he would never have pegged the kindly co editor of the Haven Herald as the man behind the muscle of the bow carrying sasquatch that worked ‘odd’ jobs in Haven.

“Sounds like we need to go talk to him,” Duke suggested.

“My thoughts exactly,” replied Nathan as he drove towards the Herald office, expecting that this time when he walked in there he wasn’t walking out without some answers.

-x-

Dark had already fallen when the small chime of the door opening at the Haven Herald brought Vince’s head up. It was late and Dave was already gone so he really hadn’t expect anyone there at this hour. Of course seeing Duke and Nathan walking through the door was something he couldn’t have anticipated. The fact that they were there, together made him hopeful that the time to make a stand had come… finally.

He pushed his glasses off his nose, letting them fall against his chest and took a deep breath as he prepared himself for what was to come.

“Dwight sold you out,” Nathan began darkly as he pushed past the little barricade between the Teagues’s desks and the entryway to the paper’s offices.

“Nathan, it isn’t what you think…” began Vince, swiveling in his chair to regard the two younger men, who approached him quickly, anger in their eyes.

“You sent Dwight to steal my father’s box of secrets,” Duke yelled, pointing at him furiously. “And now they’re gone again.”

Vince sighed and nodded his head. He stood briefly and walked to the dark room they kept at the paper and opened the door. In the red light of the room they could see the glint of the silver box by the doorway, surprising both of them that Vince had dug the box up and brought it here.

“You unburied them from the cemetery?” Duke questioned, confused. “How did you even know they were there…”

“I have sources,” he said simply, “I originally had meant to keep them from you so you would not heed the words of either your father or Reverend Driscoll. Now I wanted them safe for fear others would find them and try to force you to use them.”

“You really believe I could be manipulated like that?”

“I was afraid of what they might try to make you do; that they might persuade you to follow your family’s path without fully understanding what the Crocker line can do.”

“You mean killing troubled people to cure their family lines…” Nathan said, the words sounding like condemnation from his mouth.

“And killing the woman sent to help them,” Vince agreed with a dark look to Duke. “This time, it is Audrey.”

“So… Audrey really is Lucy…” Nathan questioned, his voice nearly breaking on the last word.

Vince nodded and Nathan felt his heart freeze in his chest. He’d denied believing it could really be true every time Audrey had suggested it… because he hadn’t wanted to contemplate what that could mean. For Audrey… and for them. Vince saw the way Nathan’s face darkened at his words and knew he had to tell him the rest, what he’d recognized this time that made him feel that Audrey’s fate had changed.

“She is. But this time things are different. She’s different Nathan… and I believe it has to do with you. Both of you in fact.”

Duke and Nathan looked to one another in confusion, not clear on how they could affect Audrey in this bizarre context. Taking a deep breath Vince glanced at them, readying his observations and what he was sure was the key to changing everything.

“Before, with Sarah, before both your times, she had attachments but nothing that could hold her here,” Vince began, recalling Dave’s… feelings for Sarah that she did not share.

Duke leaned back against the railing even as Nathan moved closer to Vince, hoping to hear something that could help protect her once they found her…

“There was no one to help her when your grandfather tried to hunt her down,” he continued, looking to Duke before he turned to focus his attention on Nathan, “then when she returned as Lucy, Garland worked with her, but he was already happily married to your mother Nathan. When Simon tried to hunt her down Garland did what he could to keep her safe, but it wasn’t enough. Both Lucy and Simon perished. This time however…”

“What’s different this time?” Nathan asked urgently, his heart now in his throat as he considered what it could be.

“She fell in love with someone who loves her back.”

At Vince’s words Nathan found his head swimming and he swallowed reflexively. He hadn’t said those words, and he wasn’t even sure if Audrey felt that way about him… yet here was Vince saying that how he felt for Audrey, how he’d hoped she felt for him wasn’t only real but the key to Audrey’s future.

“Love conquers all,” whispered Duke, thinking of the inscription inside the smaller silver box he’d found months back, his eyes sweeping to Vince, seeing the acknowledgement there before he focused his gaze on what seemed to be a stunned Nathan Wuornos.

“Indeed. Before, she has never had a reason to stay in Haven, and the Crocker line was taught to hate her, fear her. This time, she came to be friends with you Duke, before either of you knew your roles…”

“And I…” Nathan whispered, his emotions overwhelming him and Vince smiled at him.

“You fell in love with her, and she with you. Because of that, and the personality she came to Haven with, she is special… and this time by working together I believe you can stop the cycle once and for all.”

“We can stop the troubles permanently?” asked Duke, concerned. “I thought the only way I could do that was by killing someone so the line is cured.”

Vince’s face grew angry and he narrowed his eyes before looking at them, his features calming slowly. Still Nathan and Duke noted how the older man’s hands were clenched on the arms of his chair, the whites of his knuckles still showing.

“It was always communicated through the Crocker line that your power to end a trouble required the death of the troubled person as the catalyst for the cure. That isn’t the case but your arrogant father wouldn’t listen.”

“You mean…”

“It is the spilling and absorption of the blood onto someone in the Crocker line that cured them, not the death of the troubled person. I believe you already met someone slightly branched from your family that had a similar power… Ian Haskell.”

At Vince’s dual revelation Nathan spun his gaze to Duke who was already turning his head toward him, eyes wide. Ian stole people’s abilities, and had taken Jackie’s affliction with him when he’d died. If he really was related to the Crocker’s like Vince was saying, then it made sense that Duke could somehow absorb a troubled person’s powers, but in Duke’s case it seemed he didn’t take them on more than… eliminated them. If it was true, then every troubled person in Haven could be helped just by letting their blood touch Duke’s skin.

Processing the realization that he could help the troubled rid themselves of their power or curse without killing someone gave Duke a moment of pure relief. He had been sure that he was cursed, that his ability was more evil than any of the others he’d seen in Haven as someone had to die, but now it seemed that he could actually help people…

For Nathan, the reality that Duke could cure the troubled of Haven, help people who were suffering was only tempered by the idea that he could be cured too. Nathan pondered the idea dazedly, allowing himself a brief selfish moment to consider asking Duke to try it then and there in the Herald office so he could feel once again.

Then his concern for Audrey re-established itself, reminding him of his priorities. Right now he needed to focus on getting her back safe and sound. Knowing that his inability to feel pain might be help him get through whatever he had to face in the coming hours, days, even weeks, he immediately shelved the idea of being cured until it was all over… finding Audrey, the troubles... all of it.

He would be the last person Duke ‘fixed’. And if for some reason he couldn’t, as long as he could always feel Audrey, it would be enough.

“So Kyle died for no reason…” Duke said at last, stunned still by the news.

Vince nodded sorrowfully. He had tried to convince Dave that he was right; that Nathan, Duke and Audrey needed to know what they knew. Instead he’d waited too long and more people were dead.

“Are you sure this works?” asked Nathan.

“I believe so. Simon wouldn’t believe Garland when he tried to tell him the truth in an effort to save Lucy and stop the cycle back then. He swore that his father would have said something if that was true.”

“So why do people want to kill Audrey?” asked Duke, now thinking that the fact that the Rev and his father had wanted her dead must have meant something.

“Before it was because they thought she was the cause of the troubles, or that she wanted to help them rather than let people like Simon hunt them. This time I believe it is because she can end it if you work together. Audrey is the catalyst for the troubled to believe that they can be cured. Duke’s family’s power will allow him to do that. Nathan’s family has always been there to protect her in every incarnation and this time with his love for her and her love for him it should anchor her here after the troubles are gone, forever this time if I am right.”

Nathan took in a deep breath at the idea that the three of them could not only save the troubled and Haven but keep Audrey in Haven when the troubles left as well. He’d worried that if she was Lucy returned that when the troubles left that she would too. But now with Vince saying the feelings they had for one another would allow her to stay… he hadn’t realized how much he’d been afraid of losing her when the troubles were over until now.

Still none of this was any use to them when Audrey was missing.

“Vince, none of this matters right now because Audrey’s been kidnapped, and we have no clue as to who took her,” Nathan said, finally at a moment to refocus the conversation to what mattered to him: Audrey.

At that announcement Vince’s mouth dropped open and he closed his eyes, his head slumping forward as he realized that while he’d been working to try and help her, help Nathan and Duke right things, other forces had been working against him and now were trying to derail what could be Haven’s best, last chance at redemption. He opened his eyes and looked at Nathan, seeing the pain and fear in the man that he’d been masking with anger and confusion before and his heart broke for him.

“I don’t know who has her Nathan. I’m sorry.”


	5. Chapter 5

Once Nathan had realized that Vince had no clues to finding Audrey he’d quickly turned and headed to the Bronco, intent on going to the Gull and searching her apartment like he’d planned. Duke was on his heels in a moment, not about to let him leave without him. Right now one of them needed to be level headed, and it certainly wasn’t former interim police chief Nathan Wuornos.

Besides, he was sure Nathan was pondering everything they’d learned from Vince just like he was. How this time, with the woman they knew as Audrey Parker here in Haven, the three of them had a chance to not only fix all the troubled but allow Audrey to stay after they were gone… it was a lot to take in.

And from Duke’s perspective it was a good thing too. If Vince was to be believed he couldn’t imagine the pain losing her forever would cause Nathan.

A slight overcorrection by Nathan as they drove forced Duke to regard the other man seriously and found him blinking and slightly shaking his head, as if to clear it; if Duke had to guess he’d say that the adrenaline and fear that had been fueling Nathan seemed to be wearing off. There was only so long he’d be able to keep going at this pace, and without any significant leads on Audrey, all he’d be doing would be running himself into the ground if he didn’t eat and get some rest.

Normally it would be Nathan worrying about Audrey and vice versa, but with her the one in trouble it left Nathan on his own… except for Duke. He could almost hear her voice in his head telling him to take care of Nathan for her.

After another correction to get them back straight on the road Duke fought the sigh that wanted to escape. Then he drew up his courage to dive into the shark infested waters that were Nathan’s emotions with regards to Audrey’s abduction and him being a sane person and resting… before he got them in a wreck.

“So… are you going to rest at all?” Duke asked impulsively as they continued to drive to Audrey’s, the truck’s headlights cutting through the darkness as it crept closer to midnight.

“Not until I find her,” Nathan replied in a clipped tone.

“Where? How?”

Nathan turned on Duke, his eyes blazing. He was not going to let Duke discourage him. There would be clues at Audrey’s place. He was going to find something, someone that would point him in the right direction to find her. He had no choice but to believe that.

“Don’t you get that if it was me she’d be hunting for me until she dropped?”

“Look, Nate, I do get it… more than before actually,” he said, trying to reach over and lay a hand on Nathan’s arm but he just ignored it; it wasn’t like he could feel it anyway. “Vince was right, wasn’t he? About you and Audrey…”

Nathan didn’t say anything, instead turning back to the road, keeping his eyes pinned on it. Even without him answering it was now obvious to Duke that Vince was right; Nathan was in love with Audrey and it sounded like she loved him too which now made Nathan’s behavior make a whole lot more sense. When Nathan had barged into the Cape Rouge so many hours ago, his tone menacing as he demanded to know where Audrey was, threatening him with his gun Duke had just assumed that it was the fear of a partner. Now, knowing what he did the actions were clearly those of a man in love.

When Nathan and Duke finally got to the Gull it was business as usual; people drinking and eating and music playing. Neither though was much in the mood, they had more grim things to deal with, like the ‘crime scene’.

Nathan parked the Bronco and hurriedly scaled the stairs to Audrey’s place, Duke right behind him. They got to the French doors, one still ajar and Nathan walked in without pause, finding the light switch to illuminate the place. While Nathan had seen the mess before, Duke hadn’t and froze at the doorstep as he took in the scene.

“It was like this when you got here?”

“Yeah… but all I really saw was the whistle, here,” Nathan remarked as he knelt in the kitchen space where he’d found the whistle pointing him to Duke.

“Looks like they were looking for something… sort of,” Duke remarked, noting the open cabinets that Nathan had mentioned earlier.

“I’d thought that too but nothing else is touched. Her bed, the couch, bookcases… it’s all undisturbed.”

Duke looked past Nathan to the griddle with its burned pancakes, and then turned to see the ruins of a table set for two, the wine… put together with the jacket and tie in the truck it all clicked in his head and he couldn’t help the smirk that filled his face or the mischievous glint in his eyes as he realized that fact.

“You were on a date…”

Nathan looked back at Duke, pain now visible in his eyes. He’d tried to block out the reasons for being here once he’d realized she was gone, but Duke’s words brought it all back. He’d been looking forward to pancakes and talking and maybe another real kiss with her… or more than a single kiss. Now…

“We’ll just have to postpone until we find her…” he said as he moved to turn the griddle near the sink off, studiously ignoring the charred remains of what was supposed to be dinner.

Duke watched as Nathan walked around the apartment, eyes and hands searching everything. It seemed to take forever but in reality Duke figured it might have been an hour, maybe slightly more. But there wasn’t anything left to find. Whoever had taken Audrey, they’d been sure to leave nothing behind that was easily visible. Now fingerprints of fibers or whatever, that might still be a possibility to find, but they’d need help, which meant trusting people.

And right now, following Vince’s revelations neither of them were quite sure who exactly they could trust.

Turning around from where he’d been looking out the French doors Duke found Nathan leaning over the ruins of the dining table, both hands braced as his head drooped. He could almost see the despair and anger rolling off him. The longer it took them to find Audrey the closer to the edge Nathan was getting.

But on top of all that it was obvious to him that Nathan was finally hitting the wall, both physically as well as mentally. The clues he’d been banking on finding to lead them to Audrey hadn’t been here, and now he was starting to shut down.

“I need to start checking all of the Rev’s properties, his acquaintances, maybe there’s something there; someone has to know something.”

“Nate, it’s like 2 am…. you can’t do any of that until morning.”

“What else am I going to do?”

“You can get some sleep,” Duke stated simply, a slight edge to his voice as he talked to the other man like he was a two year old. “You can’t run on adrenaline and coffee even if you think you can. And if you don’t sleep your mind’s gonna start messing with you and where will that put her? She needs you sharp to help her.”

Nathan stopped, Duke’s hand now resting on his shoulder. He couldn’t feel it but he could see Duke standing beside him, trying to talk some sense into him. Of course he didn’t want to hear it. Audrey was gone and he needed to find her. The longer she was gone the greater the chances were that he’d never find her. He knew how it worked with kidnappings; the first 24 hours were crucial, and he figured he had about 12 of them left.

Still, he knew he’d nearly killed them both a couple times just driving to the Gull because he was getting fatigued on top of the emotional upheaval her disappearance and Vince’s revelations had wrought. He was still trying to figure out how Vince knew what he did, and why he and Duke were only learning about these things now.

No matter what though, what Duke had said was true. He did need his brain working and right now it was past the point of coherent thought. He hated the fact that he was impaired by physical limitations that his affliction couldn’t compensate for.

“I hate when you’re right, you know that…” Nathan said with a sigh.

“Of course you do. Look… we can stay here. First thing in the morning you can start making calls and asking questions. I’ll see who was on shift tonight before you showed up at the boat and you can ask if anyone saw anything. I’ll sleep on the couch, you take the bed.”

Duke turned Nathan around and pointed him physically towards the bed in question. Nathan looked at the wrought iron headboard and pure white linens with a sense of horror. To sleep in it at all, but especially without her just seemed wrong.

Duke caught the look on his face and laughed. If he was honest, he’d been rooting for Nathan and Audrey to get a clue and hook up for a while. When she’d taken up with Chris Brody he’d been surprised and a bit dismayed. But then she’d ended up breaking things off with him and now it seemed she’d finally realized that Nathan had been waiting on her. And of course that was when someone realized she needed to be gone… it made a lot of sense based on Vince’s theory…

“I can’t sleep in that…” Nathan began, his body unconsciously moving away from the bed in question.

“Yes you can. Besides, its not like you aren’t going to be in it once you get her back anyway,” scoffed Duke, making Nathan glare at him like he didn’t know what he was saying.

Even if it was the truth.

Nathan thought about arguing some more before his eyelids started to droop for a moment as fatigue began to push at his senses once more. He sighed and gave in, his exhaustion making the decision for him that under normal circumstances he never would presume to make.

Duke watched Nathan sit on the edge of the bed and take off his shoes before he lay back on the bed on top of the covers. There was no way he was getting under them…

He closed his eyes and turned to the side, his senses taking over for him. As his head hit the pillow he suddenly smelled Audrey’s scent and he tried to fight off the ache that threatened to erupt in his chest as he thought of her held captive somewhere, possibly hurt…

God, he wanted her back safely so badly…

His hands curled in the pillowcase as he held the pillow closer, hoping that maybe he could turn off his mind any let her scent lull him to sleep in the false promise that she was there, and would be there when he woke.

Having seen the way he’d curled into the bedclothes, Duke turned away quickly to give Nathan whatever privacy he could afford him and headed to the couch. He laid down on it, finding a loose afghan over the arm and wrapping himself in it. As he laid there, eyes pointed to the ceiling as he fought to decompress he thought to himself that as much as he might envy Nathan for having found Audrey he was grateful he wasn’t in his shoes tonight. Loving her as a friend was hard enough at the moment; he couldn’t imagine what Nathan was going through…

It was going to be a long night… for both of them.

-End Chapter 5-


	6. Chapter 6

It was sometime after 2 am when Nathan had finally fallen into a restless sleep. Dreams turned nightmares had plagued him all night. More than once he’d fought up from horrible visions of finding Audrey either dead or dying. As exhausted as he was, while he’d woken slightly from the dreams he had groggily turned and fallen asleep again, letting Audrey’s smell on the pillow lull him back under.

So when his cell phone rang he startled awake, his eyes opening at the sound. His veins filled with a shot of adrenaline with the ringing phone, hope filling him as he prayed for good news. He groped for the device in his pocket as he noted that it was light outside. While he wasn’t fully rested he realized that at least wasn’t brain dead as he noted the caller ID and spoke into the phone.

“Dwight, do you have any news?”

At the sound of the phone ringing and Nathan’s voice, Duke jerked awake on the couch, his clothes crumpled more than ever. His eyes swung to where Nathan was now sitting up bolt straight on the bed, ear to his cell phone. He watched as Nathan cupped his head in his hand once he’d hung up the phone and Duke feared that the news was bad.

“Nate?” he asked from his spot on the couch.

“No new info,” Nathan said his voice filled with sadness yet a twinge of optimism that there wasn’t a body washed up on shore. “Dwight has a call in to the State Police, thinking he might get a hit on Audrey through them. He knows we need to keep the news from HPD for right now. He’s going to check around the shoreline thinking maybe whoever took her might have thought to stash her on one of the summer boats. Someplace where people aren’t around for long stretches…”

Nathan trailed off as his mind wandered once again to the idea of Audrey having been physically kidnapped from her own home, then possible tied up, hurt, in pain… his mind threatened to shut down at the agonizing thoughts that filled his mind. He hated feeling so helpless.

“Nathan…”

Hearing his name, Nathan’s head raised and his eyes cut to Duke. At the concern he saw there he simply looked away, his hands clenching on his thighs as he tried to get his emotions under control once again. He could think clearer after the little sleep he’d gotten but with the light of day he still didn’t have any clue as to who had Audrey and where.

“We need to figure out who could have gotten in here and out again. Carrying her out of here should have attracted someone’s attention.”

Without waiting for Duke to say anything, Nathan pushed himself out of Audrey’s bed and turned to find her bathroom. After using the facilities he came out to find Duke standing by the couch, the look in his eyes saying he was more than a little concerned.

“Okay, I’m going to go downstairs and check my employee list. I’ll see who was working last night between four and eight and we can ask if they saw or heard something that could help,” Duke said before he moved towards the doorway. “You have ten minutes to get yourself together and come down. When you do, I will have coffee sitting for you and you will eat something, alright.”

Nathan looked at Duke and fought not to shake his head. He wasn’t sure what disturbed him more – the demand that he eat something, Duke’s offer to help get him information or just the general decent way Duke was treating him. Under any other circumstances Nathan was sure he probably would have brushed it off as Duke trying to play an angle but right now… it seemed legitimate.

“Thanks Duke,” he answered, the way he said it making Duke believe he really meant it. ”I’ll be right down.”

Nodding Duke opened the door and headed downstairs leaving Nathan alone in Audrey’s apartment once again. He looked around and swallowed hard as he made himself remember that if he, and Duke had their way, the next time he had to step foot in this apartment, it would be to have that dinner date that they’d been kept from having before.

With the hint of a smile as he considered not letting her out of his sight once they found her and having pancakes for every meal for a week, he turned for the door to go downstairs and meet Duke and start the search for Audrey once more.

-x-

Without any real light penetrating the space she’d woken up in, Audrey wasn’t sure how much time had passed since she’d been kidnapped. She knew that in the hours that she’d been awake she’d tried to figure out where she was and fallen asleep at one point, feeling the effects of the taser as well as plain exhaustion.

In the near darkness she had investigated the small space as best she could with both her hands and feet tied up. After a while she’d finally realized that she was locked in a closet, maybe a bit smaller than her apartment’s bathroom. With her limited mobility she’d done what she could to assess her situation, trying the door knob with her tied hands, but found it quite secure.

At one point she had considered trying to find out if she could open or break the door but wasn’t sure if there was someone in the building that would hear her. The last thing she wanted to do was make any noise that could alert her abductor that she was awake and possibly get tased again.

She did however try to wiggle out of the plastic tie cuffs around her wrists, causing her to rub the skin raw and possibly bloody. At one point after what seemed forever she had almost just decided to risk it and was going to try kicking at the door when she heard noises on the other side of the door of the room she was in.

She froze for a moment to make sure they weren’t coming to the closet but when no voices or footsteps came she slid herself close to the door. Carefully she pushed herself up the wall to let her stand as best she could. Leaning her ear to the door, she was just able to make out a heated conversation almost out of earshot.

“I removed her from the equation,” said the voice of the person who had appeared at her door and tasered her; the man that she’d once called her boss… the fake ‘Special Agent Howard’.

“You didn’t kill her…”

She fought down a gasp as she realized that the man who had just spoken was Dave Teagues, a man whom she’d thought was her friend. Yet she knew that when she’d finally confronted him about Sarah and Lucy and knowing who she was, Dave had been the one reluctant to tell her what she wanted to know.

And now she could see how far he was willing to go to keep her from finding out what she had demanded to know. Audrey strained to hear, her body contorting in the small, closet like space.

“I didn’t believe that was required. I was simply incapacitating her before she could cause any more problems.”

“You were supposed to get her here and have things fix themselves, like always,” Audrey heard Dave say, and as she listened harder, trying to understand what they were saying, what it meant.

“I did my job before… I shepherded her here when Garland’s request came to bring her to Haven when the troubles returned… like I was supposed to,” replied Howard.

“This is not how it is supposed to work Robert! Vince wants to help Nathan and her start a war. If that happens I don’t know if people, if Haven will survive. I won’t be responsible for that!”

“I can’t help you. I’ve done more than I should have by abducting her.”

“What about the memory wipe… can we still do that?”

Audrey bit down hard on her lower lip to keep from gasping. Dave was saying he knew about whatever had wiped the other Audrey Parker’s memory and now wanted to do the same to her…

“It only works once a cycle and the real Audrey Parker’s insistence in trying to find answers removed that option for you,” her former boss said, thinking back on his carefully constructed plan to have the Audrey Parker that needed her memory erased find the house and the book… and how it had been screwed up.

“So… the only way we can stop this is…“ Dave began before pausing and taking a deep breath before continuing, “We need Duke to kill her.”

Inside the closet Audrey slid to the floor as her legs gave out, her mind unable to wrap around what she’d just heard. Dave; kind, grandfatherly, photographer Dave wanted her dead… She closed her eyes and whipped her head back and forth trying to dislodge the words from her mind as she continued to hear the slightly raised voices on the other side of her closet door.

“Which I understand he is reluctant to do,” Howard stated matter of factly.

“We will have to find something to convince him.”

“I don’t know what you think you can use as leverage. You have heard that he and Wuornos’s son are hunting for her even now…”

Audrey’s eyes snapped open even as her heart leapt in her chest. Nathan was looking for her, just as she had hoped, and he had convinced Duke to help…

“Yes, but they won’t know to look here. Just… stay here and make sure she stays locked up until I can figure this out.”

“No. I’ve done too much as it is. I’m getting out of town… I wash my hands of anything else you do.”

Audrey listened intently as she heard a set of footsteps moving away quickly from the other side of the door of the closet she was in.

“Damn it Robert! You can’t leave now!” Dave yelled as he ran after the man Audrey now knew as Robert and as ‘Special Agent Howard’.

Audrey heard both sets of footsteps lead away from her position and then there was a slamming door. Knowing that both of them were now probably out of the house, she realized this was her chance at escape. She forced herself back up and tried the door knob with her tied hands once again but it was still locked. Angry and frightened she let herself slide to the floor again and laying on the ground as best she could she turned to kick at the door, hearing the wood thud heavily under the force of her kick. It didn’t move and she felt the pain reverberate up her feet and legs from striking the solid wood.

Still she tried several more times before she felt herself getting winded. The jolt of electricity had already weakened her and now her exertions were tiring her out. Leaning her head against the wall of the closet she closed her eyes and rested.

With the house silent once again she suddenly realized that she could hear something… and she finally recognized that it wasn’t people speaking but rather music possibly on a radio somewhere in the building. She listened closer and identified the strains of the Carpenters and once she did she reminded herself like she had that first day she’d arrived in Haven that she would not die to the sounds of that damn song.

She just needed to find a way out or hope that Nathan and Duke could figure out how to find her…

-x-

Dwight had gotten a phone call from his buddy in the State Police. He hadn’t even expected that they’d have anything at all, at least for a while. But the information that the Maine police had given him wasn’t for Audrey, but rather it was on someone else…

He pulled his phone and dialed a now very familiar number, not surprised at all when it was picked up on the first ring.

“Nathan, I have some news…”


	7. Chapter 7

Nathan had come down the stairs after closing up Audrey’s place and walked into the Gull. At the bar he found Duke behind it, pouring coffee and laying out two plates loaded with toast, eggs and bacon.

“About time. Coffee and food ready to go.”

“What about your employees?” Nathan asked, avoiding the offer of food and coffee in favor of asking about a lead on Audrey.

“I had Frank at the bar and Laurie waiting tables. I already called and left a message for both of them. But I doubt either of them saw anything as it’s really hard to focus on much other than the people in the place.”

“Still…”

“We’ll ask. For now, eat something,” Duke remarked, taking a piece of bacon from his own plate.

“How domestic of you,” Nathan started and got a glare from Duke in return. He softened slightly realizing the full meaning of the gesture. “Thanks, for this…”

“Nathan, you know that I’d do anything for Audrey, and well… I guess, well, you’re not so bad for a cop and all…”

Nathan recognized the olive branch for what it was; in truth since Audrey had arrived in Haven both he and Duke had changed a lot. Sure, he had warned Audrey about ever trusting Duke, but he had to admit that when the chips were down and he’d needed him, Duke had manned up. Once they found Audrey and caught her up on everything they’d learned so far about the troubles he’d see if Duke continued his altruistic behavior.

He took a sip of the coffee, fairly sure that it was cool enough that it wouldn’t burn him now. The jolt of caffeine hit his system and he felt even more awake than he had when he’d woken earlier. Giving Duke a half smirk he took the toast and munched on it, knowing it had been over 12 hours since he’d eaten and would need the strength for the day to come.

When his phone rang he had a mouth full of eggs and he quickly chewed and swallowed so he could answer it. Duke took another bite of his bacon as he watched Nathan’s face slip back into worry – both professional and personal.

“Dwight?”

Nathan’s eyes widened and he glanced to Duke who carefully put down his coffee cup on the bar. Obviously the sasquatch had come up with something…

“Nathan?” asked Duke, his voice energized at the look on Nathan’s face.

While Nathan listened to Dwight he looked at Duke with a stunned expression. It wasn’t quite what he wanted, Audrey’s exact location, but the news was a surprise and possibly a big key to figuring out not only who had Audrey but to who had been pulling the strings around town for years.

“Did Dwight find her?”

Nathan raised a finger to halt any more questions from Duke as he spoke to the man on the phone, ”thanks. Call me if you catch anything else.”

Once he’d hung up, Duke looked Nathan straight in the eye. He could tell that whatever Dwight had told him had given him the slightest bit more hope; it was in the way he stood a little straighter and his limbs hung a bit looser.

“Nat…” Duke started but Nathan cut him off.

“No, he didn’t find her… but… he got something else.”

“Come on, don’t leave me hanging here…”

“The State Police got a hit on one FBI Special Agent Howard coming into the Portland airport two days ago,” announced Nathan, his mind playing over the times he’d spoken to the man who must have known who Audrey ‘really’ was…

“You mean the bald guy that got locked on my boat?”

“Yeah. Dwight confirmed it was him. And it seems that he rented a car…”

“You think he’s coming here?” questioned Duke, wondering what the guy was thinking coming back to Haven.

“Why else would he be here?” Nathan asked, “I’m calling the station and putting an APB on the car. If we find him, maybe he has some answers. Finish your coffee, we’re going hunting for Agent Howard…”

Duke grimaced, thinking of hours driving through Haven in the Bronco with Nathan, but couldn’t fault Nathan’s logic. Ducking under the counter he reached down and pulled up two take out coffee containers and passed one to Nathan as he dumped his own coffee into it.

“Take it to go. God knows you’re going to want to leave right this second and you’ll be a bear without a full cup of caffeine in your system.”

Nathan nodded and poured his coffee in the cup and secured the top. He took another sip before he started to the door, one hand on his coffee and the other on his phone as he called the station.

“Laverne, I need an APB on a silver Toyota Corolla four door sedan with Maine plates…”

-x-

‘FBI Special Agent Howard’ drove his rental car towards the coastline road, looking for the quickest path from Haven and to Portland.

He was going a little fast and when he saw the flashing lights of a Haven police car whirling behind him, he knew he was being pulled over for speeding. Since no one knew who he really was, he figured he had a chance to talk his way out of it. He pulled over and sat waiting. In the rear view mirror he watched the local cop get out and walk towards him and he glanced down, preparing his badge and important federal law enforcement business spiel…

Instead when the cop came to the door, he saw that he had his gun in hand and was very obviously not going to listen to what he had to say.

“Get out of the car, hands up. You’re under arrest!”

Surprised, Robert slowly complied, carefully getting out of the car. Stan quickly turned him around and had his hands cuffed behind his back before he could blink twice. Once cuffed Stan carefully walked him back to the patrol car, reciting his Miranda rights as he guided him into the back seat, closing him in. Moving to the driver’s door he reached for his radio and called in his status.

“Laverne, call Nathan and let him know we found the car and I’m bringing Agent Howard in.”

-x-

“So, where do you want to start?” Duke asked once Nathan had finished giving Laverne the vehicle information to be radioed out to the HPD.

“Perhaps East Haven… in case he tries to go to the regional airport?” Nathan replied as he turned over the Bronco, anticipating a full day of driving and searching the town for a single silver sedan.

Duke shrugged and Nathan directed the vehicle out of the Gull’s lot and onto the roads of Haven headed towards the mainland location of the airport. As they drove, Nathan looked at every car they passed, looking for the make and model of the silver sedan Agent Howard was supposedly driving. Duke, having overheard the plate number and description was looking as well, knowing he had a better shot at locating the car since he wasn’t driving.

They’d been driving for at least half an hour, maybe longer when they finally were close to their destination. Just as they were about ready to crossover onto the mainland Nathan’s phone rang and he hurriedly dug into his pocket.

“Laverne, what’s up?” Nathan asked quickly and then his breath caught. “We’re on our way.”

Nathan swung the vehicle around, headed at a breakneck pace towards downtown and the station. Duke had no idea what Laverne had told him but the way Nathan was tearing across town meant it was something big.

“Nathan…”

“Stan picked up Howard on his way out of town.”

Duke understood and braced himself in the truck as Nathan cut corners and almost blew through a few stop signs. Before long Nathan slid the Bronco in to a parking spot at the station, barely slowing down. He cut the engine and climbed out, his eyes focused on the door to the station; his mind had spent the better part of the drive getting there wondering how much he could get away with in regards to ‘talking’ to Agent Howard.

People halted what they were doing, conversation stopping as they saw the slightly disheveled Nathan Wuornos striding through the station for the first time since Audrey’s kidnapping, not that they knew about it. And the fact that Duke Crocker was with him, while not uncommon these days seemed to cause more than a few sets of eyes to focus on the former interim police chief.

“Where Agent Howard?” Nathan asked Stan as he paused at his desk.

“I put him in the interrogation room…” replied Stan in a partial stammer at the look in Nathan’s eyes.

“Perfect…”

The dark tone in Nathan’s voice triggered the alarm in Duke’s head. He knew that Nathan was already walking a tight rope with his emotions and that could cause him to have a lapse in judgment… one that he might not be able to come back from. Federal agent or not, if Nathan did anything to Howard the lawsuit and investigation alone could be devastating.

“Nathan,” Duke said quietly, grabbing the other man’s arm, “you aren’t going to…”

“I’m just going to ask him some questions…”

“Sure you are…”

Nathan glared at Duke following his sarcastic response. The man might want to find Audrey too, but the gnawing fear and desperate longing for her only resided in him; he couldn’t lose her, especially when they were so close to having… everything. And he was willing to do whatever it took to get her back.

“Duke, this isn’t your concern…” Nathan stated, trying to wave him off as he made his way to the interrogation room, even while Duke tried to keep him from breaking out of his grip and instead followed him in an attempt to try and keep talking him out of doing something that could cost him his badge.

“The hell it isn’t. Audrey’s my friend… and hell, so are you. I don’t want you going in there and doing something monumentally stupid…”

“I won’t…”

“Audrey will kill me if you got fired because you did something to Agent Howard that you shouldn’t.”

Nathan couldn’t help but flash a half grin at that, imagining one of her tirades about him doing something dangerous or trying too hard to protect her. Of course he always gave back as good as he got with her; it was one of the things that made them good partners.

Still, right now he didn’t care what his fate would be; he just needed a break to help him find her.

“I get it…” Nathan finally said, doing his best to sound like he was going to do as Duke was suggesting without actually saying he would. “Just wait here.”

He waved Duke to a chair outside the interrogation room and went in alone.

“Agent Howard,” Nathan said as he closed the door behind him and stared at the man he’d met so many months ago, who had sent to Haven the woman that at the time he hadn’t known would change his life.

“Office Wuornos… I’m a bit confused as to why I’m here,” Agent Howard asked in his best authoritative tone, his fingers steepling before him as he leaned his elbows on the table.

“That would be because I know that you really don’t work for the FBI.”

There was a long pause as the man before him gave Nathan a brief glance before lining his eye line over and past Nathan’s shoulder.

“Who are you?”

There was another long silence as the man known only to him as Agent Howard continued to look past him. Nathan placed his palms flat on the table and leaned forward across the flat surface, his face less than a foot from the other man’s.

“Okay, how about you tell me why you were in Haven?”

“Seeing an old friend,” Howard replied vaguely.

“Last I looked the only ‘old friend’ you have here in Haven would be your former ‘employee’…” Nathan started, his hands clenching into fists against the table top. “So… knowing that, I need to ask you, where is Audrey Parker?”

Agent Howard’s gaze shifted and caught Nathan’s eyes; the casual disregard to his question that Nathan saw there made him snap the thread of precious control he’d found on Duke’s boat nearly a day earlier. He stood up and then slammed a fist into the table, unable to feel the hard surface impact his hand. But he could see the slight indentation into the surface.

In front of him Nathan saw Howard jerk slightly, and he knew that he’d shaken the man before him.

“You know where she is… you’re going to tell me…”

Howard flinched as Nathan moved towards his side of the table and then his eyes widened as he was picked up bodily by Nathan’s hands at his neck, the fingers gripping the collar of his jacket. A second later Nathan had slammed him into the wall behind him.

“Where is she?” yelled Nathan as he yanked him forward briefly only to slam him into the wall once again, this time harder.

Agent Howard looked at the man before him. He’d known Garland for a while and though him his son. But this man before him was driven in a way that Nathan Wuornos had never been. He recalled one instance when he and Garland had talked about getting the town under control and how Garland had insisted he was doing everything he could to do that.

Now he understood that what Garland had been doing was to set things in motion with his son and Audrey… and with them together perhaps things might finally change...

“Tell me!” demanded Nathan even as he let his hands slide up from the fabric of Howard’s jacket to press against the man’s throat.

“She’s safe,” he gasped, having finally realized the full extent of mistake he’d made in consenting to Dave Teagues’ request. “I left her in the closet at the house I have here.”

“The address!”

“2148 Chase Street.”

Nathan didn’t spare a second. He dropped Howard and then turned and flew out of the room, slamming the door shut behind him. Duke jumped from his seat at the speeding vision passing him. From the look in his face Duke knew asking any questions would be like talking to a wall. Instead he simply followed him, knowing that wherever Nathan was going he’d possibly need help.

“Keep him locked up…” Nathan growled at Stan as he rushed past, “he’s a suspect in a kidnapping.”

At Nathan’s words Duke fought a surprised gasp and realized that this might have been the break they’d been waiting for and hurried out the door behind Nathan, expecting that when they arrived at wherever Nathan was going they’d find Audrey Parker.

-x-

David Teagues walked into the Haven Herald offices and looked around. Vince was not there… it was noon, maybe he was at lunch. Either way it gave him the time he needed to make a call.

Pulling a plain manila folder from his bottom desk drawer he placed it on his desk and opened it. Inside was a ripped piece of paper from a journal and he dialed the number scribbled on it. He waited impatiently until the line picked up.

“Hello, this is David Teagues…”

He waited for the person on the other end to acknowledge him. He grimaced but otherwise was just waiting for his chance to say why he’d called.

“Lance, I need you to return to Haven.”

This time Dave winced and held the phone away from him a bit as the person on the other end ranted at him. After a few minutes the tirade died down and he placed the phone back to his ear.

“Your father would have wanted you here… he didn’t know…”

Dave waited, listening to the man on the other end talk. He’d expected he’d have to play the father card and the fact that he had a responsibility to him was his key to getting the man here. After a while he could hear the acquiescence in the man’s voice.

“Good. Let me know when you arrive. You can call this number.”

Hanging up the phone he looked back at the front door making sure no one had arrived while he was on the call. Then his eyes glanced to where the darkroom door was ajar and he was stunned to see the Crocker weapons box sitting on the floor. He didn’t know how it had gotten here, more than likely Vince had something to do with it, but he wouldn’t argue with his luck.

Standing, he moved to the room and picked the box up and placed it briefly on Vince’s desk as he closed the dark room door. The longer it took Vince to realize they were gone the more likely he’d have the time he needed to take care of things. Moving back to the desk he wrapped the box in his jacket and then picked it up.

Carefully he made his way to the front door and noted the dirty blue cooler still situated by the entry way and gave it a glare before he pushed the door open and exited, headed somewhere that would allow him to manage things better, and out from his brother’s watchful eye.

If Vince was going to start a war he would be sure that the side he’d chosen had both weapons and soldiers too.


	8. Chapter 8

Duke did his best not to yelp as Nathan nearly parked the Bronco on the front lawn of the house Agent Howard had directed them to. The man in the driver’s seat barely turned off the engine before he was unclipping his seat belt and flung the truck door open, not caring if it closed behind him.

Nathan rushed up the walk and was at the front door in seconds. He tried the door but it was locked; it wasn’t like he was surprised. Glancing to his right he saw Duke had joined him and gave him a simple nod to acknowledge his presence as well as his help.

“Kick it down.”

For a moment Duke almost considered asking Nathan to wait, that maybe he could pop the lock like he had at the Good Sheppard Church but the anxious look on Nathan’s face stilled the words before they left his lips. Instead he simply backed up along with Nathan and they both rushed the door. Two heavy feet slammed into the wood before them, causing the door jam to creak but not buckle. Not even waiting for Duke, Nathan placed a second fierce kick against the wood and the door suddenly gave, the frame cracking and spitting wood fragments into the air that Nathan ignored.

“Parker!” called out Nathan as he warily entered into the house.

Howard hadn’t said if there was anyone else there, so he wasn’t taking chances. He also didn’t know where in the house she was so that meant they needed to search the place until they found her.

“Audrey!” yelled Duke as he followed Nathan inside.

In the darkness of her improvised prison Audrey’s head popped up at the sound a loud crash. Instantly she sat up, paying attention and wondering if Dave was coming for her to finish her off. Listening hard to try and pick out what was going on she heard someone calling out and realized that it was Nathan’s voice, followed by Duke, the two of them calling her name. A rush of relief filled her as she realized it was a rescue rather than a firing squad coming for her and she moved to kick at the door hoping to give them enough sound to guide them to her.

“Nathan!” she cried out, hoping between her voice and her kicking he would hear her.

“I heard something,” Nathan said suddenly to Duke as he pulled his service weapon, pointing it low and forward as he stalked through the house, trying to pin point the sound. Beside him Duke pulled out his own gun, looking around them, waiting for someone to jump them.

Audrey continued to yell and kick, and halfway into the house Nathan recognized her voice and he took a sudden, stunned breath, realizing that she really was here somewhere and close from the sound of it.

“Audrey!” called out Duke and Nathan nearly simultaneously as they honed in on her location in the house.

Nathan’s voice was clearer and closer now, and Audrey felt her heart thunder in her chest. She slammed her feet into the closet door again, feeling the pain from the repeated pounding through her lower legs but wasn’t about to stop.

Both men kept moving until they found a closet in a back bedroom with a padlock keeping it closed.

“Parker?” called Nathan as he rushed towards the door.

“Nathan! I’m in here!” she called out, almost crying in relief at the realization that Nathan was on the other side of her makeshift prison door.

The sound of her voice separated by the closet door sent a rush through his veins and he breathed in a shaky breath. He’d been so fearful that they’d be too late, or that she’d be unresponsive, gagged or even seriously injured when they found her. But she was there, inches away from him and he wasn’t waiting any longer.

“Move back!”

At Nathan’s voice she instantly huddled on the floor in the back of the closet. There was a sudden crack of a gunshot as Nathan shot the lock. He quickly holstered his gun and began fumbling with the lock, memories of opening a trunk in the Carpenter’s Knot house filling his mind. As he flung the door open, Audrey uncurled herself and looked up, blinking rapidly as the sudden influx of light hurt her eyes.

Nathan was on the floor beside her in a split second, reaching for her, needing to feel her to assure himself that she was alive and there. The second his fingers touched her face he felt himself fall apart.

“Oh God Audrey,” he murmured thickly, relief washing through him at having found her alive.

“Nathan…” she responded, her voice equally tremulous.

For what seemed like the longest of moments they simply stared at one another, Nathan’s hands on her cheek and shoulder. Over the last 24 hours they had both had a big wake up call about how fleeting life was, especially in Haven and realized just how close they had both come to losing everything they were on the verge of having with one another.

“You okay?” asked Duke from where he now squatted beside Nathan having been previously ignored for the reunion going on before him.

“Yeah…” she said breathlessly, her eyes leaving Nathan’s for just a moment to acknowledge Duke’s presence. “Maybe a couple of burns from the taser and my wrists are…”

At her words Nathan jerked back slightly from her so he could glance down at the two slight marks on her chest above the satin camisole that she was wearing. When his mind registered that he was almost staring at the silky material covering her chest he forcibly yanked his eyes away and moved to assess her hands. He tried to turn her to get to where her hands were tied behind her but couldn’t do it easily. He glanced down and saw the plastic tie around her ankles and realized that his hands were most likely touching the plastic tie around her wrists.

“Duke, go look for a knife from the kitchen to cut these…”

“On it,” he responded as he rose quickly from his spot on the floor and moving away, leaving Audrey and Nathan alone.

Once Duke had gotten up to hunt for a knife Nathan guided Audrey to sit up against the wall more comfortably, what with her hands bound behind her. He found himself absently touching her hair, her skin to ground him to the reality that she was real and in his arms.

“How are you doing?” he asked her softly, his hands drifting to hold her before him, hands wrapped around the cool flesh of her upper arms.

“Better… now…” she answered simply, her blue eyes boring into his own, the hesitancy she’d shown since they’d made their dinner date gone in the face of her abduction and near death.

She wasn’t shying away from this man any longer…

Suddenly Duke appeared with a small paring knife he’d found tucked forgotten in a drawer and handed it to Nathan. He reluctantly eased his hands away from her so he could take the knife and moved to cut her wrists free.

“Hold still,” he said lowly as he slipped the knife blade between her skin and the tie.

With an angry whip of his wrist Nathan cut the plastic restraint and quickly repeated the motion with the one tying her ankles. Audrey pulled her hands forward, feeling the ache in her shoulders at the movement and then rubbed at the raw, scabbed skin at her wrists, the blood dried and flaked.

At the sight of the bloody marks around her wrists where the plastic tie had cut into her Nathan swore softly. His hands reached out and touched the edges softly, not wanting to hurt her. The anger he’d felt at her kidnapping now morphed into fury that Howard could have injured her, even if it could have been so much worse…

“You’re going to the hospital,” he said sternly, his tone brooking no argument as he fingered the wounds on her wrists.

“No, Nathan, I’m okay…” she remarked, trying to waive off his concern over what in reality were pretty minor injuries.

“This isn’t up for discussion.”

The way he’d replied made Audrey’s heart both clench and her mind scream. She understood the sweet, protective desire he had to have her go to the hospital but the stubborn side of her thought he was being overly worried. She turned her eyes to Duke, hoping that perhaps he’d back her up but he gave her a rueful smile and shook his head even as he reached forward and placed a hand on her calf.

“Come on Audrey. Nate’s been out of his mind worrying about you… the least you can do is go and have the docs check you out and put his mind at ease.”

She frowned but nodded slightly, acquiescing to Nathan’s request. There were times when she could fight with him about being over protective, but considering she’d been kidnapped she didn’t think now was the time.

Carefully he wrapped an arm around her back and waist and stood, bringing her with him. Once she was standing she let herself lean on him, partially from relief and partially due to her own desire to stay connected to him. When Nathan took a step forward, guiding her to move with him she felt every muscle in her body protest and then admitted that maybe some pain killers at the ER wouldn’t suck so much.

Slowly Nathan and Audrey moved through the house, Duke trailing behind them slightly, watching the way Nathan held Audrey as they headed to the front door. As they maneuvered through the limited furniture to the open door leading outdoors and to the truck Audrey seemed to be more secure on her feet, even though she continued to lean into the man beside her. For Nathan’s part he found that he couldn’t let go of her.

Finally they were outside and Audrey put a hand up to block the afternoon sun. After her eyes adjusted she could see Nathan’ truck on the gravel drive of the house; the front wheels were nearly on the green grass of the lawn. Nathan continued to direct her down the stairs and to the vehicle where he propped her against the Bronco while he reached into the open driver’s side door and dug in the back seat, pulling out his discarded jacket. He shook it once and then placed it over her shoulders, shielding her from the cooler weather that just by looking at the goose flesh on her bare arms he could tell was settling in Haven.

“Thanks,” she said simply, her hands coming up and grasping the lapels of his coat, wrapping herself in the warmth the jacket gave her as well as the smell of him on the fabric.

Nathan gave her a smile but didn’t trust his voice to respond as her face looked up at him and he found himself so very tempted to simply lean down and kiss her. But they had an audience and he wanted to make sure she really was okay and then settle them in at his place, maybe hers before they broached the subject of them.

Duke climbed in the back so Nathan could settle her into the passenger seat, where she belonged. Nathan walked around hurriedly to the driver’s side, climbing in. Turning over the engine he backed up the truck and started for Haven Regional Hospital.

As he drove them through town, his eyes kept glancing away from the road and back to where Audrey sat beside him; even though he’d felt her, held her against him he was still afraid each time he turned away again that the next time he looked over at her she’d be gone.

Before long they were at the ER at Haven Regional and Nathan flashed his badge to get the nurse at the desk’s attention. Duke hung back, waiting and watching, knowing that right now Audrey needed Nathan more than she needed him right now, and moved to grab a seat in the waiting area, picking up an months old magazine to wait on them.

“Officer Wuornos, Officer Parker,” said the woman at the desk as she took in the two police offices before she took in the raw wrists of Audrey and gasped lightly.

“Nancy, could you get a doctor to check on Officer Parker please?”

At his request she nodded and was up and moving. Before long she’d returned and escorted Audrey back to a bed in the ER bay. Audrey took off Nathan’s jacket and laid it on the end of the bed as she turned and lifted herself onto the gurney with a slight wince. Nathan started for her but she waved him off. He stared at her, making her smile lightly, somewhat embarrassed at how much a mess she must look and how the way he was looking at her made her heart flutter in her chest. Then the connection was broken as the doctor walked in, chart in hand as he turned to his patient.

“So, what is the problem?”

“I…”

“Office Parker was held against her will, shot with a taser and bound hand and foot for a little under 24 hrs,” quickly explained Nathan, making Audrey look past the doctor and give Nathan a slight, pained grin.

“Oh, okay,” answered the doctor, slightly stunned as he quickly went about checking Audrey over, tending to the visible wounds.

Nathan hovered at the ER bay entrance as the doctor treated Audrey’s wrists and bandaged them with soft white gauze. She glanced briefly at what the doctor was doing but couldn’t help but look back to Nathan. She could see the weariness in his face and she suddenly realized that she had no idea what he’d gone through to locate her.

The way that Duke had told her that Nathan had been worrying about her while she’d been gone made her consider that he might have been ripping Haven apart to locate her and she wanted to know now how he’d done it.

“How did you find me?” she suddenly asked, making Nathan jerk slightly from his staring at her, his mind processing what was still to come regarding her abduction and fixing the troubles.

“Agent Howard tried to flee town and we picked him up,” he replied simply, not elaborating at all on how he knew about Howard or what he’d done to loosen the man’s tongue.

“He’s at the station?”

“Yeah…”

With the last wound bandaged, the doctor smiled at Audrey and glanced back over his shoulder at Nathan.

“You’re good to go. Let me know if you need anything else,” he said before he turned to leave.

Once he was gone Audrey picked up Nathan’s jacket and folded it over her arm as she slid off the gurney. Slowly she walked to Nathan’s side, her hand reaching out and catching his wrist, causing him to briefly catch his breath at the sensation.

“Alright, so let’s go…” she said softly, her eyes piercing his as she gazed up at him.

“Okay. Do you want to let me settle you at my place or do you need to go back to yours… it is a mess though…”

“Neither… I want to see Agent Howard.”

“Audrey, no… you need to go home and rest,” Nathan said, and even though he really didn’t want to let her out of his sight any time soon he knew he would need to go back to the station to deal with Howard as soon as possible; he could get Duke to stay with her.

“Nathan, I need you to take me to the station so I can see him. I have some questions I need him to answer for me, and they can’t wait,” she insisted, her grip tightening on his wrist now.

“Parker…”

“Nathan, I just spent god knows how many hours locked in a closet because of this guy who knew I wasn’t Agent Audrey Parker all along. I need to see him.”

Nathan watched the fire in her eyes and sighed. When she was like this there was no arguing with her. Maybe the best thing was to go and get it over with so he could take her home once they were done… everything else; the weight of Haven that was now on their shoulders could wait until they’d had the time to come to terms with this… with them and the kidnapping and everything…

“Alright. Let’s go get Duke and we’ll go to the station.”

She grinned at him and briefly caught his hand in hers, threading her fingers with his and squeezing lightly. He quickly clutched her hand back, reveling in the feeling of her soft, warm hand in his and then lead them out of the ER bay and out to find Duke.

-x-

Vince had come back after meeting with a source and found the office empty again. He’d yet to see his brother in the last 48 hours and was wondering if Dave was purposefully trying to avoid him.

His eyes caught the closed door to the dark room. He hadn’t closed it earlier… he hurried across the office and pushed it open. The space where the weapons box had sat was empty.

“Damn,” he swore quietly as he slammed a fist into the wall by the door.

\- End Chapter 8 -


	9. Chapter 9

“So, you good?” asked Duke as he watched Audrey and Nathan walk out from the treatment area of the ER, his eyes glancing from their faces to the entwined hands which suddenly separated and he fought o suppress a wry grin.

“Fine. So, we’re heading to the station. You want Nathan to drop you off at the boat or the Gull?” Audrey quickly replied her eyes darting to Nathan.

“You’re letting her go to work?” he answered, ignoring Audrey’s question about dropping him off for now and looking at Nathan with a stunned expression.

“I…” Nathan began, looking to defend himself.

“There was no letting me do anything. I’m fine and I need to see Agent Howard.”

With that Audrey started for the door. Nathan started to follow when Duke jumped up from his seat and his hand reached over and stopped him. Turning his head he regarded the serious look in Duke’s eyes and knew that the concern there for Audrey was more than likely mirrored in his own.

“You’re really going to take her there? I would have thought you would have hauled her back to her place, or yours and made her stay put…”

“I wanted to, believe me Duke I had no plans to drag her into any of this right now but you know how she is…”

Duke laughed, the sound like a bark as he couldn’t help imagining the pit bull like behavior of the woman in question. He knew from his own experience that Audrey was a force to be reckoned with when she had her mind set on something. More than once she had somehow bent him to her will and he’d ended up doing something noble or selfless… it was an embarrassing trend. He couldn’t even imagine what it was like for Nathan facing that kind of emotional blackmail at her hands.

“Yeah… well, I’m just glad she’s not my girlfriend,” he remarked with a wink and a light punch to Nathan’s shoulder before he turned to follow Audrey out, leaving Nathan staring at the other man, his mouth gaping.

-x-

After having finally agreeing to drop Duke off at his boat and connect back with him later, the trio traveled to the Cape Rouge where Duke temporarily parted ways with Nathan and Audrey as they went on to the police station. When they finally got there the two of them walked in singularly focused on separate things; Audrey on asking Agent Howard more questions and Nathan on protecting Audrey from whatever answers they might get. He already knew so much more about her and the troubles than she did since speaking to Vince and he hadn’t been able to discuss it with her yet. Once they got done here though, he was going to take her home and they would have a talk…

However as they strode through the station neither of them noted the looks they received. All eyes took in Nathan’s more relaxed manner that had been missing a few hours earlier and then there was Audrey; she was dressed in very casual, relaxed clothing and her hair was messed up. Of course no one knew that it was the result of a dinner date turned kidnapping.

“Interrogation room,” Nathan said as he saw her head turn back to him, eyes asking him where they were going without words.

She nodded and turned around again, making a bee line to the shut door. Nathan was right on her heels, ready to stop her lest things get out of hand.

“Agent Howard,” Audrey said as she walked into the interrogation room that Stan had kept the man in since Nathan had flown out of the building a little more than an hour ago.

“Officer Parker. Officer Wuornos,” Howard replied as he stared at Audrey, a look of what seemed to be guilt crossing his face as he regarded her.

Audrey glared at Howard in return, her baser instincts wanting to hit the man for having abducted her and for putting both her and Nathan through hell. Behind her she heard Nathan shut the door and she stalked away from where she could feel him approaching her, no doubt wanting to keep her from doing something foolish, like the last time they’d been in here and she’d nearly gone over the line with Patrick Grolsch when she was certain he was responsible for Stu Pierce’s abduction.

Nathan tried to grab her arm but she moved away, pacing the room slightly. Sighing lightly he pulled out a chair and sat. With Audrey safe he could take his time asking the man in front of him the questions he wanted answers to. He knew that Audrey was less likely to take a slow, methodical approach so it was up to him to try and be the good cop here.

“Okay, how about we start this from the top. You still have yet to tell me who you really are since we know you aren’t FBI Special Agent Howard,” asked Nathan politely.

“I’m surprised you didn’t just ask your father who I am.”

“I can’t…” Nathan responded with a small, nearly undetectable hitch to his voice, “He’s dead.”

A pained look briefly swept across Howard’s face but Nathan caught it before he could school his features. He had to wonder just what kind of relationship the Chief had with this man. He knew that Agent Howard had sent Audrey to Haven, but now it sounded like the Chief was somehow involved…

“Why would I ask the Chief about you?”

“I had a professional relationship with him,” he said vaguely.

“The Chief had you send me here…” Audrey said angrily, pieces of conversations and situations finally making sense to her.

The offer to stay in Haven, join the force followed by the hard line tactics and threat to pull Audrey back to the ‘FBI’… it all screamed collusion now that she knew the Chief and Howard were ‘professionally related’.

“He knew the troubles were back, and that he needed you here.”

“Do you know who I am?” she quickly asked the controlled fury in her voice reminiscent of the last time she and Nathan had been in the interrogation room together even as she leaned over the table, her hands pressed flat on the surface.

“I don’t,” he said simply his eyes cutting to catch hers. “My job was just to keep an eye on you and when you ‘arrived’ back, to give you the time you needed to prepare and then send you to Haven.”

“So you gave me Audrey Parker’s memories?”

“Yes,” he replied and Nathan watched as Audrey heavily took a seat beside him, the enormity of that simple word rocking her to her core. “We thought it best if you were law enforcement…”

“Who’s we?” she asked, her eyes narrowing.

Howard looked around the room, and finally sighed. Everything had gone… differently than planned. Perhaps the truth would fix it. Or maybe make it better.

“The Chief and… some of the town elders…”

“Who? The Teagues, the Aldermans, Mayor Brody? What about Reverend Driscoll… did he know?” Nathan suddenly questioned, wondering how many people he knew that had been involved in drawing Audrey to Haven.

“Does it really matter? The fact is that Audrey is here now where she needed to be, in the circumstances that are the best suited to… resolve matters in Haven.”

Nathan glanced to Audrey, watching the emotions crossing her face. She didn’t like how easily she’d been manipulated, how people had been playing with her life for as long as she could tell. But they still had a job to do and knowing who they were dealing with might be helpful later on.

“Okay… you don’t want to tell us who you were working for, fine. How about you finally tell us who you are?” she asked simply, hoping that maybe they’d finally get a straight answer out of him.

“Robert Baker,” the man they both knew as Agent Howard finally said.

Audrey glanced to Nathan and they silently acknowledged the new information that would have them searching databases to find out exactly who Robert Baker was, but for now there were other questions to be asked.

“Okay Mr. Baker. I know you posed as Agent Howard and pretended to be Audrey’s boss. Do you want to tell me why you’re here now, and why you kidnapped her?” questioned Nathan, returning them back to Baker’s motives for abducting Audrey.

Baker sighed and ran a hand over his bald head before he answered.

“It wasn’t what I was asked to do… but it was the best I could do under the circumstances.”

“So, what? It wasn’t your fault? Someone made you do it?” Nathan asked, unconvinced when he noted Audrey straighten and push out of her chair, the anger radiating off her in waves.

“What about Dave Teagues? Why did he want me ‘removed’?” asked Audrey and Nathan looked at her uncomprehendingly.

“What?” said Nathan so quietly that neither Audrey nor Baker had heard him.

Robert looked at her sadly. He’d done what he could and she still had been in danger. Yet Nathan had done what he was supposed to… protect and find her.

“He thinks the decisions that people have been making, regarding Haven, regarding the troubles and you are wrong. He wanted to start over…”

“By wiping my memory or killing me,” she commented, knowing that she was right, since she had heard their conversation.

Nathan turned his eyes from where he’d been watching Audrey to pin a blazing stare at Baker. This guy had been planning on wiping her memory? And Dave Teagues had been in on it? Before he knew it the question was tumbling from his lips…

“Dave asked you to kill Audrey?”

Baker didn’t answer his question and so Nathan looked back to Audrey and she nodded in response. She hadn’t until now fully processed that she’d heard Dave’s voice plotting her death but now that her former boss had confirmed that Dave had been involved, she had finally accepted what she’d heard… that Dave Teagues had wanted her dead.

“I knew the first wasn’t an option and told Dave as much,” Baker acknowledged, answering Audrey’s question instead, “As to killing you… I couldn’t do that, even if Dave thinks it will allow everything to reset. I took you knowing if I let Teagues control the situation it could be much worse. And I figured I could set the situation to allow you to survive…”

Nathan stared at the man, his mind whirling. Baker had taken Audrey, not killed or memory wiped her like Dave had wanted done, but he’d ‘set the situation’…

A sudden revelation hit him like a bolt from a thunderstorm.

“You staged the apartment to send me after Duke,” Nathan stated astonished, causing Audrey to look at Nathan, her face confused.

“Yes. I planted the whistle I found at Duke Crocker’s boat at Audrey’s.”

“Why?” he asked quickly, still not sure the reasoning.

“I had hoped your shared affection for Audrey would band you together; to let you gain answers regarding the troubles and your roles in the fight facing you. That by working together you would be prepared for the battle that Dave and the others that think like him want to win at all costs.”

“So you set Nathan and Duke at one another hoping they’d join forces?” asked Audrey, trying to catch up on what she’d missed over the last 24 hours.

“Yes. Of course Dave thought it was about setting them against one another; that it might have kept them both isolated and confused. If it had ended with one or the other injured or killed, the main goal they had was to divide them permanently to keep them from locating you. But obviously Dave and his allies miscalculated how convincing Mr. Crocker could be or how devoted Officer Wuornos is…”

Nathan looked away from Baker and caught Audrey’s wide eyes as he realized she was getting the gist of some of what she’d missed and slid a hand across the table to brush his fingers against hers. She immediately pressed her hand over his, curling her fingers over his hand and Baker raised an eyebrow at the gesture.

“No,” he said quietly, “they all seem to have underestimated you quite badly.”

-x-

Dave drove up to the house Robert was holding Audrey at and he slammed on the brakes hard. The front door was wide open. As he looked closer he could see tire tracks leading up to the yard and the door hanging on its hinges oddly. He could only speculate one thing…Nathan and Duke must have found Audrey.

He swore lightly under his breath and then glanced around; wanting to be sure that no one had seen his car here. This place wouldn’t be safe for him to meet with Lance. He’d have to find somewhere else to go.

Putting his foot hard on the gas he backed up and then pulled off into the street, trying to think of his next move and how to make sure that he could stay ahead of Nathan, Audrey and Duke until he could convince his allies as to their next course of action.

\- End Chapter 9 -


	10. Chapter 10

It was late in the day, the sun beginning to set when a black Harley Davidson bike pulled into the marina, parking at the dock slip where the Cape Rouge was anchored. The man riding the bike had checked and found out that it was docked here, much to his surprise, but in some ways it made sense. Duke Crocker was nothing if not… unpredictable.

He climbed off the bike once he had it stable, his tall, well muscled frame covered by a heavy leather jacket, t-shirt and jeans. Motorcycle boots rounded out the look and he took off his helmet, revealing dark brown hair cut short as he hooked the helmet onto the handlebar.

Dark sunglasses covered his eyes but the rest of his face was bare, slightly tanned and showing the remnants of what could be considered a bit more than a five o’clock shadow on his broad jaw.

Slowly he headed to the gang plank to walk onto the boat. On the deck he found the person he was looking for, leaned over the opposing railing, his arms pulling on a rope that hung over the side.

“Duke…”

At the sound of the man’s voice Duke’s fingers when numb and the rope slid from his hands, causing a quiet splash to be heard overboard. Stunned briefly he then swiveled, his mouth gaping slightly. The sight before him was more than a shock and one he had not expected to see… well, ever again.

“Lance?” he asked astonishment in his voice.

Before him Lance Crocker reached up and pulled off the sunglasses revealing chocolate brown eyes that matched those of his younger brother before him. He smirked briefly before turning the action into a grin as he looked at the surprise on Duke’s face.

“That any way to greet your brother?”

Duke looked him, his mouth now set in a deep frown. He hadn’t seen him in nearly fifteen years. Lance was his older brother by nearly ten years and had been long gone from Haven for the worst of his experiences with his dad after their mom had passed away. And now here he was, out of the blue just days after he’d learned about his father’s ‘occupation’ and the trouble that the Crocker family was cursed with. It made him question just what had prompted his brother’s return.

“What are you doing here?” Duke asked as he began moving, closing the distance between himself and where Lance stood just past the gang plank. “You said hell would have to freeze over before you set foot in Haven again. You didn’t even come to dad’s funeral…”

“I got a call telling me I needed to come back. That I was needed here…”

Lance’s words stopped Duke cold and he skidded to a halt a few feet from his brother. This had all the fingerprints of someone who knew about the Crocker ‘curse’ having called Lance to entice him back to Haven. He had no idea when that call had been placed but he knew one person who had been itching to get him to follow in his dad’s footsteps, and he wouldn’t put it past him to have tried an end around the uncooperative youngest child by calling big brother.

“Did Reverend Driscoll call you before he died knowing he couldn’t pull my strings?”

“It wasn’t the reverend… he’s dead?” asked Lance, genuinely saddened to hear that Haven’s ‘spiritual leader’ was no longer with them.

“Yeah. So, who called you then?”

“Does it really matter?”

At the dismissive tone Lance answered him, Duke found his temper slipping. Between Nathan trying to kill him, Audrey’s kidnapping and finding out he could cure the troubled without killing them when his dead father had told him that was the only way… it had been a trying couple of days and his brother’s arrival was not making it any easier. He rushed forward and shoved his brother hard in the chest, making Lance look at him dumbfounded as he stumbled back a step at the force of Duke’s push.

“Yes, it does! If someone said you needed to come home then I’ll bet that they want you to pick up where dear old dad left off because I won’t and you have no idea what that means…”

“I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about!”

“What I’m talking about is the fact that someone is playing you. They got you here to either get me on board, which isn’t happening or they’re gonna tell you some story about how it’s your responsibility to pick up where dad left off.”

“And what the hell does that mean? I just know that supposedly dad would have wanted…” Lance began and Duke barked out a laugh, scoffing at how little it seemed Lance knew about both their dad and what he’d ‘wanted’.

“What dad wanted?”

Lance looked at Duke, slightly taken aback before he put some space between them as he watched his younger brother’s face. The anger and frustration on Duke’s features was obvious even to him. But he wasn’t sure the real reason for it; if it was because he felt anger at his arrival or if there was something else going on, something to do with Dave Teagues’ call.

“Since when have you ever cared about what dad wanted?” Duke continued, finally turning and walking away disgustedly from Lance.

“I gave a damn… he just didn’t so I left…” stated Lance as he moved swiftly across the deck of the boat and caught Duke’s shoulder, stopping him as he yanked him around to face him.

With Duke facing Lance once again the two brothers stared at one another, conflicting emotions showing in their dark eyes.   
“But now you’re back because someone said that he would have wanted you here, huh?”

“Duke…”

Duke slapped Lance’s hand away and then pointed a finger into his brother’s broad chest. Lance had no idea what he’d walked into and at this point Duke didn’t really feel like being responsible for anyone else’s life… between Nathan, Audrey and all the troubled in Haven it felt like he had more than enough people counting on him.

“Cut the crap Lance, you’re here because you think there’s something here for you. You have no idea what dad sent me back to Haven to do…”

“Then why don’t you tell me?” suggested Lance, pushing Duke’s hand from his chest. “I get a call telling me I need to come back, that somehow dad would have wanted me here, and you’re all pissed off about Reverend Driscoll and wanting to know who ‘sent’ me here. Why don’t you tell me what’s going on?”

Sighing Duke ran a hand down his face. For a moment he looked around and then realized that perhaps he really should explain everything to Lance. Once his brother understood what was going on the better. And with that knowledge maybe he’d realize that he was better off elsewhere.

“Fine. Let’s go below and I’ll explain what the hell is going on.”

With that Duke turned and headed to the cabin, taking the stairs and finding the single glass and the bottle of whiskey he’d been drinking when Nathan had stormed in. There wasn’t a lot left in the bottle but it was enough to start with. He moved to the cabinets and opened one to pull out another tumbler and turned to see Lance standing behind him.

“Sit down…” Duke said as he sat heavily in the same spot he’d been in a little over a day before and slid the clean glass to Lance, grabbing the bottle to pour half of what was in it into the empty glass. “So you got a call saying dad would have wanted you here. Well what you don’t know is why.”

“No, I didn’t get an explanation… he just wanted me to call him when I got here, but I figured I should come and see you first.”

Duke knew now that it was a man, but not the Rev that had called Lance, so it was progress in figuring out who was trying to mess with him and his family. He was glad at least that Lance had come to him before he’d called the guy who had brought him here. By the time Duke finished explaining he figured Lance would be heading out of town or hopefully give up his contact so Duke could track him down.

“Good to know, because whoever called you is playing you. You see, dad told me I needed to come back to Haven if the troubles ever came back. What he didn’t say was that it was because he wanted me to pick up the old family business and kill troubled people.”

“What?” questioned Lance, his expression stunned; the words coming from Duke’s mouth causing him to reach out and take the whiskey glass and drink a swallow. “The troubles are back and he asked you to come back to kill people with them?”

“Not really. He just made me promise to come back. He didn’t say a damn thing about killing people. And then when I found that out, I wasn’t having any of it,” answered Duke angrily, images of Kyle flinging himself onto the knife in his hand filling his mind before he gulped down some of the whiskey in his own glass.

“But somehow you found out…” prompted Lance, seeing the shadow that seemed to cross his brother’s face as he explained what their dad had sent him to Haven to do.

Lance found himself confused by the vehemence in his brother’s voice compared to that of Dave’s obvious… wheedling tone on the phone. It made him wonder just what really was going on here, and if his arrival in Haven was about what his dad had wanted or what someone else, someone that was trying to use Duke and now maybe him wanted instead.

“Yeah. The thing is that dad didn’t know shit about our power or what we really can do. He wanted me to kill people to cure the troubles and to kill the one woman who can really, truly help them. Then I find out he was wrong and I can fix them without killing them… If I had believed him I would be responsible for the deaths of dozens. How screwed up is that?”

“So you believe whoever told you that dad was wrong?”

“The guy’s got the inside track on everything in this town. And everything else he said about the troubles… well there wasn’t anything he said that didn’t make me believe he knew what he was talking about,” Duke related, remembering the way Vince had been so right about Audrey and Nathan and fought down a smug smirk at the thought.

“Then I’m here…” Lance began before bringing the glass back to his lips.

“To replace me, to get me in line, I’m not sure exactly which. But now that you know what’s going on… maybe we can work together? The guy that called you… you could draw him out and we could all get some more answers. What do you say?”

Lance stared at Duke for a moment, still trying to absorb everything his brother had just told him. He knew about the troubles, he knew that there was always something that his dad wouldn’t tell him and he knew that Duke wouldn’t be telling him fairy tales… he was too much of a realist for that. His only hesitancy was that he knew Dave Teagues. The guy was a kindly, bookish man… he couldn’t imagine that he, of all people, was trying to get him to come to Haven to kill the troubled…

But the look on Duke’s face was what convinced him that his brother meant what he was saying; that he was telling the truth. The raw hopefulness and anxiety he saw there reminded him that this was his brother and that if there was ever one thing that you could depend on, it was your family. And after everything that had happened to them in their lives, the broken bond that he’d been responsible for by leaving his younger brother behind he wasn’t going to let his brother down now.

“Okay,” he answered finally, tipping his glass towards Duke’s, prompting his younger brother to raise his own glass and clink the two tumblers together. “So, what’s the plan?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I had planned to have this chapter include not just this scene between Duke and Lance but also an N/A scene, but the guys decided they wanted the whole thing for themselves. Never fear, next chapter will be more of the N/A reunion. Also, anyone wanting a visual for Duke’s brother can check out the pics of Victor Webster on IMDB who I immediately thought of when describing Lance. As always, if you’re still out there and continuing to read please let me know! Thanks for reading! Ms. J.


	11. Chapter 11

Once Nathan had gotten Robert Baker, AKA “Agent Howard” settled into a cell and the paperwork started on keeping him there, he’d issued an APB for Dave Teagues, stunning everyone in the station.

As it was, the news was making the rounds now that Baker and Dave Teagues had conspired to abduct a police officer, namely Audrey. Audrey had given her statement about her kidnapping from being tasered by Baker through her rescue by Nathan and Duke, providing the supporting evidence to issue the warrant for Dave and charge Baker with kidnapping and conspiracy.

Once that was done there wasn’t much more left to do other than wait for the district attorney to review the charges on Baker and hope that a patrol car saw Dave. As it was Nathan was not looking forward to contacting Vince and telling him the news, but knew he was going to have to follow up with him sooner rather than later, especially after he and Audrey talked.

At the thought of her he glanced across their office and watched as Audrey sat at her desk, her head now held in her hands; the stark white of the bandages around her wrists twisting his heart in his chest. A little over two days ago he was heading to her apartment to have pancakes and talk before his world had turned upside down. And while in those intervening hours he’d learned more than he’d imagined, seeing her here and safe just reminded him of what he’d been looking forward to earlier… simply having dinner with Audrey, learning more about Lucy Ripley and maybe, just maybe defining this thing between them where they were more than partners.

Of course now there was so much more to discuss…

Standing up he moved to her desk and leaned over, his hand reaching out and touching her shoulder, the bare skin cool under his palm and his breath caught briefly at the awe-inspiring feel of her skin under his. Her eyes swung up to catch his and she found her mouth going dry at the intense, loving look she caught in his dark blue eyes.

“It’s getting late… how about we head out?” Nathan asked simply, his thumb brushing against her shoulder unconsciously.

“Drive me home?” she asked, the straight forward question wrenching Nathan’s already overtaxed emotions.

“You sure you want to go back to your apartment? I mean…”

The concern in his voice was obvious to Audrey, and for as much as she appreciated it, she wasn’t the shrinking violet that would just run and hide from the bad in life. She wanted to go home, face everything and maybe get some real sleep for the first time in nearly two days.

“No… I… can you take me home please?”

As much as he wanted to just take her to his house and keep her from the memories that going back to her apartment might bring he knew that the emotions of her abduction were going to catch up with her eventually. And if it was going to be now, the least he could do was be there for her if she needed him. All he really wanted was to know that she was safe… and being there with her would allow him know she was all right.

“Okay…” he acquiesced softly as he eased his hand from her shoulder reluctantly, “I… let’s go.”

Nathan backed up to allow her to stand and they gathered what little they’d brought with them before heading out of the station. Crossing the parking lot to get to the Bronco they both noted the sun beginning to set and with it the chill that had seeped into Audrey’s flesh did so once again, causing her to rub her hands over her bare arms briefly.

Opening his door on the truck Nathan watched Audrey climb in on the other side, her exposed flesh sporting gooseflesh. He again reached in the back seat and pulled out his jacket and handed it to her as he climbed in. She gave him a look but took it from him and slid her arms into the suit coat, the fabric enveloping her in sudden warmth as well as his smell.

Turning over the engine Nathan pulled the Bronco out of the lot and headed for the Gull. As he drove he focused on the road, not wanting to let his mind replay any of the last day or fantasize about what might come next for them. In the passenger seat Audrey allowed herself the opportunity to watch Nathan in profile while he kept his eyes on the road, her thoughts a jumble as they got closer to her place and with the privacy it would bring, they could finally talk about everything that they’d been unable to share or express.

It wasn’t long before they arrived at the Gull; the evening crowd was in full swing as night had fallen and for a weekend the place was somewhat subdued. Nathan got out of the truck and smelled the scent of food wafting through the air from the kitchen and realized it have been quite a while since he’d eaten anything, and he glanced at Audrey, figuring the same probably could be said for her as well, if not more so.

“How about some food? I can go in and ask about some take out?” he asked as he closed his door behind him.

“That sounds… good.”

Nathan nodded and they walked to the doorway of the Gull. Stepping inside he waved down Eileen, one of Duke’s waitresses and asked for two burgers with fries and wrote down his cell phone number on her order pad for her to call him when they were ready to pick up while Audrey stood in the doorway. Once she’d taken the order she turned and walked to the kitchen leaving Nathan to return to where Audrey still stood, within the doorway, still safe and sound.

“They’ll call. Let’s go upstairs.”

She gave him a tight smile before she turned away from the door to the Gull and headed to the staircase for her apartment above. The fact that Nathan had ordered them dinner, expecting them to be together for a while made her feel relaxed and surprisingly happy. And when normally she would have felt that he was hovering and worrying too much she now found herself not upset at all by the fact that he wanted to be there for her and with her.

In fact, given everything she’d been through she really wasn’t looking forward to either the dark or being alone right now. And as she thought on it harder she realized that she wouldn’t mind Nathan staying longer than just to have dinner and talk…

Together they moved to the stairs, Nathan following her up and then they entered the French doors of her apartment. Her hand hit the light switch and he heard her gasp as she saw the mess that Baker had left behind in his attempt to frame Duke and send him on the path to rescue Audrey before Dave could kill her.

“Sorry…” Nathan apologized as he walked into her apartment a few steps behind her, realizing what she was seeing, “I was going to clean it up…”

He quickly moved around her and attempted to block her from seeing the worst of it, but she kept moving, working her self around him enough to take in the full scene. Her eyes went wide and she swung her head to look at Nathan as she absorbed the expression on his face and the look of pain in his eyes.

“This is what you found when you came to meet me for dinner?” she asked, he voice soft and small.

He nodded, his hands moving without input from his brain as he stepped away from her to right the chair at the dining table and then going to close the open cabinets. He didn’t think he could look her in the eyes right now, knowing that all she’d see would be the fear and obsession that he had felt for the last 36 hours as he’d searched for her.

Suddenly her hand fell on his bare lower arm and he turned to face her, his expression open and curious before his eyes met hers and he felt his breath catch. He could see the look of sadness in her face as she looked up at him, realizing fully just what Nathan must have gone though after she’d been abducted.

“I can’t imagine what it was like to see this, and for me to be just… gone.”

His eyes dropped and slid away from her but she had seen everything he’d tried to hide within them before he’d looked away. And she knew that expression; had probably worn something similar when she’d stood in the unfinished remains of the Everwood resort as she had bartered with Cornell and his copy to rescue Nathan from them.

“Come on, let’s sit down.”

Nathan let her guide him to sit on the couch. She settled him beside her and turned to face him. She knew what had happened to her, but whatever Nathan had been through in his hunt to save her she needed to understand what it had been. Her hand moved to rest on his bare wrist and his eyes gravitated to meet hers.

“So, what exactly happened while I was gone, and how did you and Duke of all people end up working together?”

“It’s a long story.”

Audrey gave him a look and he knew that he was going to have to explain. She was nothing if not tenacious when she set her mind to find out the truth. It was what had kept her here all this time…

“You were there and heard how Baker explained he was setting up Duke,” he started, focusing her on what she already knew.

“Yeah… I didn’t understand that.”

“When I walked in here,” Nathan said, his eyes glancing at the table and kitchen, “I found Duke’s whistle on the floor… he’d left it here to send me after him.”

“You thought he…”

Nathan looked away, still smarting from the fact that he’d been played. And how he’d nearly done something as stupid as shooting Duke when he, Duke and Audrey had just dealt with the spirits of the Rev and Simon Crocker and Duke had flat out told them that he wasn’t going to hurt Audrey. But at the time it was so easy to believe…

“Yeah. My mind wasn’t exactly in a logical place at the time.”

Suddenly Nathan’s cell phone rang and he dug in his pocket to get it. Answering it he nodded and then hung up.

“That was the Gull… our dinner’s ready. I’ll be right back.”

Before Audrey could even utter a reply he was up from the couch and headed out the door. He quickly ran down the stairs, went to the bar and paid for the burgers before heading back up with their meal. When he reached the French doors he had an unexpected spike of fear course through him as he recalled the last time he’d stood there expecting to have dinner with Audrey and the anxiety that she might be gone once again flooded over him. He pushed the one door open to find Audrey setting her kitchen table, having removed his jacket and wearing a soft, warm looking sweater. Her eyes looked up and she smiled and Nathan’s unease evaporated under more pleasant feelings at the sight of her there in front of him.

“Food’s here,” he announced unneeded as he held the bag in front of him.

“Good… I’ll get some beer?”

Nathan nodded and she went to the fridge and came back with three bottles, two of beer and one of ketchup. She came and sat at the table as he opened the bag and pulled out the take out containers, placing one at her place and one at his own.

Sitting as well, Nathan took a swig of the beer before starting in on the food. At the first bite he suddenly realized just how hungry he was and started devouring it. Across from him he saw Audrey do the same. If he hadn’t eaten in what probably was nearly twelve hours, she had probably gone closer to 36 without a meal.

Slowly they began to finish their food, meaning that the conversation that eating had delayed now could no longer be put off.

“So, what happened to you while I was missing that you haven’t told me?” she said finally before taking a long pull from what was left of her drink, washing down the last of her meal and injecting a little more liquid courage to finally get to the heart of the matter as to what was bothering him.

He sighed and rubbed his palm along the back of his neck, trying to figure out where to start. There was so much that had happened, so much that he and Duke had learned that he needed to share with her he was a little worried he’d overwhelm her. It had overwhelmed him and he’d had nearly a day to digest it all… but she needed to know.

“While you were gone, we… Duke and I learned some things. Things that might answer a lot of the questions you’ve had...”

With that he reached across the table and put his hand on hers. The connection there was just like before; he could feel her yet now he knew how much more it really meant. That he was supposed to be her anchor, the man she loved that would keep her in Haven. And he wanted that more than anything… but he still wasn’t 100% sure where her heart lay, no matter what Vince might have said.

Yet when she turned her hand under his so she could curl his hand within her grasp, holding it tightly he let himself believe that Vince was right and she did love him as much as he loved her.

“Okay, hit me.”

With a sigh, Nathan started to divulge what he’d found out. Everything from the theft of the weapons box, to learning from Vince about Audrey being Lucy, how Duke could cure people without killing them, and finally, although somewhat reluctantly, how Vince believed that what they felt for one another was the key to Audrey staying and how that seemed to be supported by the Latin inscription on Duke’s heirloom box.

Audrey had listened to Nathan, her eyes wide and mouth agape, tons of questions filling her head but going unspoken as she tried to just let Nathan talk. Each new revelation slowly sunk in, making her realize that in just a day, with her kidnapping as the catalyst they’d learned more than they had in months of them searching. The little she’d found out from Lucy Ripley was like a grain of sand in the sand castle of information that Nathan had gained. And from Vince of all people…

“And Vince told you all this?” she finally asked once Nathan seemed to have finished.

“Yeah. He’s… obviously he and Dave have different loyalties now,” Nathan replied, his hand clenching around hers as he thought of Dave’s betrayal and deadly plans for Audrey.

“I want to talk to Vince. I need to know if there’s more he can tell us about the troubles and me and… everything.”

Nathan nodded knowing that at the time he hadn’t asked many questions about what Vince knew and how, but now that Audrey was safe once again they needed to start figuring out what they needed to do to protect Haven and help the troubled. He looked at her, seeing the dark circles forming under her eyes at the late hour and realized he needed to table everything for now… everything else they might be feeling until later. Slowly he stood up and moved to Audrey’s side, prompting her to look up at him from her chair.

“We will. In the morning I’ll take you there. For now, you need some sleep.”

While normally she would be stubborn and argue with him, she knew he was right and she really didn’t want to fight. In fact that was really the last thing she wanted. After Nathan had revealed Vince’s theory about how their feelings played into everything in Haven she had been focused on the fact that she’d already made her mind up about them before she’d even known that it was somehow… fate.

Pushing up from her chair Audrey stood directly in front of him, less than a foot away and she felt her heart beat just a little faster as she gazed at this wonderful, caring man in front of her who wanted nothing more than to take care of her, protect and love her…

“What about you?” she questioned quietly as she reached out and caught Nathan’s hand, his eyes sweeping to meet hers as the sensation of feeling rushed through him at her touch.

“I’ll stay on the couch… if that’s okay…” he stammered a bit, confused by her question and distracted by her touch.

Audrey looked at him with an almost pained expression. While she’d been locked up her heart and her head had finally come to agreement on what she wanted and needed and deserved.

And she didn’t want him on the couch.

Carefully she pulled him closer to her until there was barely any space between them and Nathan stared at her, his eyes hopefully yet surprised by her actions. He started to move his other hand to her shoulder and then pulled back, but she’d seen the movement and swiftly caught the retreating hand and guided it back towards her body, this time settling it on her waist under the sweater and camisole. At the feel of her skin under his hand he glanced at the place it rested and then back up at her, the astonishment on his face plain to see.

She couldn’t help smiling up at him as she felt everything she’d been fighting, all the feelings that she’d only just started to accept coalesced in her all at once as she looked at Nathan.

“I had a lot of time to think when I was locked in that closet, wondering if someone, if you would find me in time,” she said simply, her voice a bare whisper as she finally admitted what she’d been realizing in the weeks before both her kidnapping and that impromptu kiss. “There were moments when I thought that Dave or Baker or one of the Rev’s people would just walk in and kill me. And when I thought about it I wasn’t sorry that I didn’t know who I was or that I hadn’t helped more people… I was upset that I wasn’t going to be able to be here… with you.”

Nathan found himself dumbstruck. He’d suspected that she’d been afraid for her life, had struggled and fought and contemplated not being rescued in time but hearing her admit that the one thing she would have been the most remorseful about was leaving him alone knocked the air from his lungs.

“And I don’t want to have any regrets.”

As the words passed her lips Audrey let go of Nathan’s hand as she let both of her hands move to his jaw line, pressing her palms against his flesh. Instinctively Nathan slid his now free hand to mirror the other on her waist. Except for the fact he was actually holding her, the way she held his face in her hands reminded him of when she’d kissed him what seemed like ages ago and he held his breath, wondering if she was considering doing so again.

He waited, letting her dictate the pace but she simply stared at him, holding his face before her as she looked at him, her eyes boring into him as if she was searching for some answer or some sign…

“Audrey…” he began softly, not wanting to have her pull her hands away but needing to know what she was doing; what she wanted. “What…”

The sound of his voice guided her back from where she’d let her mind wander, the possibilities of them having overwhelmed her momentarily. She knew that she needed to say this, so that no matter what else might happen, if somehow she was lost to him again, at least he would know…

“I love you and I…”

She wasn’t able to finish her sentence before Nathan hastily drew her body flush against his and leaned down to press his lips against hers, finally able to express to her with his actions what he hadn’t been able to do before when he’d been too shocked to respond in time. Now however he was going to show her exactly how he felt, how much she meant to him, how nearly losing her had almost destroyed him.

With a single kiss.

He put everything he felt into it; passion, longing, devotion, tenderness, caring and love. And unlike him she responded immediately, her fingers grasping his face a little tighter as their lips crashed together with a previously suppressed force and desire.

After what seemed too short a time Nathan eased his lips back from Audrey’s, his eyes searching her face to gauge her reaction to his somewhat forceful move. What he found was a brilliant grin on the face of his partner, best friend and what he believed he could now say as well… lover.

“So, I guess that’s a…” Audrey began before he cut her off.

“I love you too…”

She grinned before pulling him down briefly to kiss him gently, showing him how happy his words and actions made her feel with the short, sweet kiss. When she broke away she watched his smile form immediately on his lips and smiled in response.

Then she yawned.

With that simple act it reminded them both that they were exhausted. He had gotten the impression that she had slept but not well, just like he had. Come morning there was plenty of time for them to not only get more answers to their questions but for them to begin to fully realize this thing between them.

“How about we get some sleep?” she suggested, her hands moving from his face to slide down his arms and grab his wrists as she began to pull him with her.

Nathan nodded, not realizing just what she had in mind until he found that she had lead him away from the kitchen and towards her bed. His eyes flicked from her to the bed that he’d slept in nearly 24 hours earlier and then returned his gaze back to her. She caught the look and glanced back at the bed before she stared at Nathan once more.

“You’ve been in this bed before,’” Audrey remarked humorously as she moved to stand beside it, noting the slightly rumpled covers and Nathan’s… awkwardness at the prospect of sleeping in it with her.

“Maybe…” he replied uncommittedly, recalling Duke’s words the day before and fighting a smile.

“You’ll tell me later, right?”

“Okay…”

She gave a sound that might have been an affirmative grunt before she started slipping out of her clothes in front of him. He stared as she slid the pants, shoes and socks off of her, along with her sweater. Standing there in the silk camisole and her underwear he found it hard to breathe.

Turning she pulled back the covers and climbed on the bed.

“Come on… we both need the sleep and I… I don’t want to sleep alone.”

The slight crack of her voice reminded him that for whatever misgivings he might have at sleeping in her bed, with her, she had been through an ordeal, and if his presence beside her was what she wanted…

Carefully he put his gun and badge down on a nearby end table before he divested himself of his shoes, socks, pants and shirt, leaving him in a dark pair of boxer shorts and a light grey t-shirt. Holding the covers up in invitation, Nathan joined Audrey on the bed and she drew the blankets down over them.

Immediately she curled up next to him, her hand on his chest and her legs pressed against his, her bare skin touching his and nearly overloading him with sensation. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her tightly against him and as they both let themselves relax into one another as they closed their eyes, letting the first sound sleep overtake them in days.


	12. Chapter 12

Waking up in Audrey’s bed was almost like déjà vu for Nathan… except for the fact that she was in the bed beside him. Her head and her blond hair were tucked under his chin and even though they had slept what had to have been a good eight hours they were still cuddled into one another.

He assumed that perhaps the fact that neither of them had really wanted to be alone might have had something to do with their continued entwined sleeping arrangements come morning as well.

Nathan fought the desire to move, enjoying all the sensation the touch of her skin against his allowed him and decided that he was perfectly happy with just laying there entangled with her, watching her in his arms.

Almost as if she instinctively knew he was awake and staring at her, Audrey shifted in Nathan’s embrace and looked up at him with a small smile. Just seeing it made him grin as well, thoughts of their conversation the night before filling him with a deep sense of contentment.

“How’d you sleep?” she asked him sleepily as she shifted in his grasp.

“Good… better than yesterday,” he replied without thinking, honesty his default mode of reply with her.

“So… you did sleep in my bed while I was gone then…”

Nathan fidgeted under her gaze, realizing that she had let him put the pieces of the puzzle together to confirm somehow that he’d slept here, on her bed while she’d been missing. Yet he had a fall back plan – he’d blame someone else.

“Duke made me. He slept on the couch.”

She couldn’t help but laugh. The image of Duke directing Nathan to sleep in her bed just seemed so implausible she knew it had to be the truth, or at least as close to it as she could imagine.

Carefully she extracted herself from his arms, making them both feel a bit… bereft. But they still had so many things to figure out; she had so many questions about what Nathan and Duke had learned that she couldn’t just take it easy today. Of course it was probably more accurate that neither she nor Nathan was the type to just take a day off when there were people that needed their help.

Watching Audrey get up and go to the bathroom make Nathan cringe a bit. He looked down at himself and then at his clothes on the floor. He didn’t know how she could stand to be near him… he thought he smelled horrible having worn the same clothes for days now.

“I need to go home, get a shower and change…” he called to her as she continued her routine in the bathroom.

“That might be a good idea,” she replied through the door with a small laugh.

He waited for her to get out so they could discuss the matter but she simply opened the door as she continued doing what she was doing and he saw that she’d put on a fluffy robe over her camisole and underwear. He smiled at the way it made her look – innocent and adorable. Which normally were not two words he’d use for her; tenacious and vibrant would be better ones. But for right now, he’d go with it.

Yet staring at her as she fiddled with her hair in the doorway of the bathroom he recalled exactly why he’d driven her here the night before without asking to stop at his house to clean up or bring a spare set of clothes… he was scared to death still of letting her out of his sight.

Swinging his feet off the bed he moved to slide on his pants. Dressed in the bare minimum to have any kind of deep conversation Nathan padded across the bare wood floors to where Audrey stood in front of the mirror in the bathroom, her fingers picking at the white bandages on her wrists and unwinding them.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, realizing he was standing there, staring at her wrists and not meeting her eyes.

He stepped into the bathroom and took her hands in his, thumbs brushing against the bared, scabbed skin before he dared look up at her.

“I just…” Nathan started, one of his hands moving to run along Audrey’s arm and then cupping her cheek, “I’m scared if I leave you here alone that Dave or whoever else he’s working with might come back…”

“Nathan…”

“I know it’s foolish; I should be more confident that you can take care of yourself, now that you know the danger but I can’t help it…”

Audrey stepped closer to him. Then she was wrapping a hand around his neck and pulling him down to kiss him softly yet briefly.

“It’s not foolish. And while I appreciate that you respect me and that I can normally take care of myself, it… I get how you could feel like this.”

Nathan nodded ever so slightly, acknowledging the fact that she got it. But the fact remained that he still needed to leave…

“I really do need to go home though. You don’t want to know how long I’ve been wearing these clothes.”

She gave him a small grin before she considered all he really was asking for; the chance to clean up and change but with the feeling of safety that her being near him could give him. And there was one very easy way to do that…

“I could come with you.”

Nathan’s heart and head both froze for a moment. The fact she was willing to offer to come with him lightened his worry instantly. He hadn’t wanted to ask, but if she was offering…

“Stay here,” she commanded, pointing to the rest of the apartment. “I’ll shower and change and then we can go to your place to do the same for you.”

“You don’t have to…” he started to demur but she already knew how he was feeling and wanted to do what she could to ease it as much as possible.

“I do. I get it Nathan, I do… and…“ she announced as she scooped up clothes from her closet and drawers, heading back to shower, “and you could make us some coffee you know…”

Nathan smiled at that last, hearing the real Audrey under the concerned words.

“Alright. Go shower and change. I’ll have coffee ready when you come out then we’ll run past my place and then…”

“The Herald.”

“Right…”

Audrey closed the door to the bathroom and Nathan smiled as he started going through her kitchen cabinets to get the coffee started.

-x-

After stopping at Nathan’s long enough for him to shower and change, Audrey spending the whole time sitting in his living room, flipping channels on his TV they’d headed to see Vince at the Haven Herald. When they walked in Vince stood up immediately and went over to hug her, startling her.

“Wow, what a greeting. I should get kidnapped more often.”

“I was very worried for you,” Vince stated sincerely. “I am so glad you are safe.”

“I understand you gave Nathan and Duke a bunch more information about the troubles and me that you didn’t share with me the last time I came by here,” she remarked, the anger in her voice evident as she launched right into the reason they were there.

“I’m sorry about that. If it had been up to just me I would have told you all this months ago.”

“So who was it up to?” questioned Nathan, his arms crossing in front of him.

“Dave and Garland thought we needed to give you more time…”

“And you agreed with them?” asked Audrey, her voice raising just a bit more and Nathan moved to place a hand on her shoulder, hoping to calm her a bit.

“At the time. Now I realize we did all of you a great disservice. If you, Nathan and Duke had known what you were all capable of; what your roles in all this were…” Vince started, trailing off when he realized he didn’t know exactly what Audrey knew just yet. “How much did Nathan explain to you?”

“I told her everything you told Duke and I,” Nathan replied, hoping to clarify the situation as much as possible.

“Nathan said you told him that he, Duke and I can fix the troubled?”

“Yes. It’s what you’re supposed to do; what you’re meant to do each time you come back. But people have kept you from that path before.”

“Like Simon…” Nathan supplied and Vince nodded.

“And this time it wasn’t just the Rev that wanted me gone, but Dave as well,” Audrey noted, her anger spiking.

Vince looked at her and then Nathan, seeing the hard edge in his blue eyes and the set of his locked jaw. Now that Dave had openly chosen to work against Audrey and Nathan it had solidified their opposing views and put them in two very different camps. Ones that would mean that Vince might have to watch his brother end up in jail, or worse, dead at Duke or Nathan’s hands as they protected Audrey from his insanity. But Dave had chosen his path.

“He… has issues.”

“Well that’s nice and all but he wanted me dead.”

Vince looked down and away. He had no way to excuse his brother’s behavior and what he’d done to Nathan and Audrey, along with Duke. But at least he could help them with what information he did know.

“And there’s nothing I can say to apologize for that. All I can do is tell you everything I know about the troubles; stories that were passed down through our family, that I’ve found from founding family histories and tales that explain how the troubles started.”

Audrey glanced from Vince to Nathan. No one supposedly knew what the troubles were and why they afflicted Haven. Now Vince was saying he had some clue as to the history of Haven and the troubles…

“What do you know?” questioned Nathan, curious as to what Vince knew that he’d yet to share with him.

“There is significant evidence in all the family histories that I’ve come across to show that the troubles go back to close to the founding of Haven nearly 350 years ago. The troubled seem to be able to trace their ancestry to the founding families that originally settled here that were cursed.”

“Cursed?” asked Audrey, not liking the term since Reverend Driscoll had always used it in such a derogatory way, but now she wondered if he’d known what the troubles were all along.

“That’s how the accounts describe it. According to the stories the curse came because there was a… dispute between two factions of settlers here; the Native American tribe that lived on the land and the European settlers who came from England.”

“What happened?”

“There was a… incident. It’s vague as to exactly what it was but it caused the shaman of the tribe to curse the European settlers,” explained Vince, slowly moving to sit down at his desk as he began to feel overwhelmed by what he’d learned over the decades and how sharing it with Audrey and Nathan would change things.

“Okay,” stated Audrey, thinking how the curse could have created the troubles, but it still left a big unanswered question, “so that makes sense. But what about me?”

“There’s a legend, one that changes depending on which one you hear or read that says that one of the English women tried to help the tribe. Because of her they eased the troubles… which is why they occur only every 27 years. And they gave her a chance to… reverse the curse.”

“And you think that she was me? That I’ve been coming back with the troubles ever since the people of Haven were cursed?”

Beside her Nathan stiffened. When Vince had first confirmed that Audrey was Lucy he’d felt his heart collapse in his chest at the idea that he’d lose her when the troubles left, like Lucy had disappeared after the Colorado Kid murder and the troubles had left town once again. But Vince’s theory on how his love for Audrey would keep her here after they’d cured the troubled had eased that fear but now he could see how her connection with the troubles was so intertwined that he desperately needed Vince to be right because he couldn’t image losing her when the curse was reversed.

“It would fit,” Nathan suggested poignantly under his breath. “If they wanted to give the descendants of the cursed settlers a chance at breaking the curse they had to give the people of the town some way to do it... and I guess… you… are it.”

Audrey glanced at him and turned away from Vince to lay a hand on Nathan’s arm. She tried to convey to him with her eyes exactly how she felt, that barring something beyond their control she wasn’t leaving him… ever.

“As I explained to Nathan while you were… gone,” Vince said quickly, interrupting what seemed to him a very intense moment between the two younger people in front of him, “you have always disappeared when the troubles do. But this time things are different. I believe you can do away with the troubles once and for all.”

“And I won’t leave because of Nathan…” she responded, her eyes finally pulling away from Nathan to focus on Vince once again, her hand slipping from Nathan’s arm as she turned.

Vince nodded, watching Nathan close the distance between him and Audrey when her hand left his arm. He couldn’t fight the small smile that grew on his face at the movement. Seeing them now, like this, he had no doubts now that everything he’d believed about Audrey’s fate this time around was right…

“Your love for Nathan and his for you will keep you here…”

At Vince’s words, Audrey had a memory of music in her head...

“Love will keep us together,” Audrey said with a slightly incredulous tone as she swiveled her head to look up at Nathan who was already watching her, his hand now pressed against the small of her back, even if he couldn’t feel her through her shirt.

“That’s the theory,” replied Nathan with a smile.

“Seems like I’ve heard this somewhere before,” she replied, her mind recalling that stupid Captain & Tennille song that had been on her radio when ‘Agent Howard’ had first sent her to Haven, then when she’d been in the rental car on the cliff’s edge and then again when she’d been locked in that closet…

In fact, it seemed there was a theme in regards to love… she, or Lucy could play the piano and the one song she kept playing she’d learned was Elton John’s “Your Song”. That and the revelation of the Crocker box’s Latin translation all seemed to point her to the fact that love was the key to the troubles, her and Haven.

“And what about this?” Audrey asked, pulling out the ring Vince had given her earlier that she’d taken to carrying in her pocket since Vince had given it to her days earlier.

“Where did you get that?” asked Nathan quickly, seeing the dainty gold band with its three diamond insets.

“Vince said it was Sarah’s… the woman before Lucy… Why?”

Nathan dug into the front of his shirt and pulled out the gold chain he wore around his neck with the dangling ring that his father had worn. He slipped the chain over his head and put the ring next to the one in Audrey’s hand. Audrey couldn’t fight the gasp that broke from her lips as she looked at the two rings side by side. They looked…

“They match…”

Two sets of eyes went from the rings to Vince and he shrugged. He had expected once Nathan and Audrey saw both rings together that they would ask about them. But he doubted they knew what they were getting themselves into.

“They do…Sarah had one ring, Garland the other.”

“But… they weren’t…” began Nathan, suddenly desperately scared about what that could mean.

“No, I told you Nathan that your father was happily married. He was simply the… caretaker for the ring while I held onto Sarah’s. These rings,” Vince said, standing as he moved closer to them where they held the circles of gold between them, “were created around the turn of the century when my great grandfather started to piece together some of the legends of Haven.”

“Why were they made?” asked Audrey, still rattled by the sudden realization that the Chief’s ring was the male match for Sarah’s.

He looked at them in turn with a knowing gaze. He’d told them both straight out that the love they had for one another was the key to keeping Audrey in Haven after the troubles were eliminated. Love was the missing ingredient in curing the troubles and keeping Audrey from vanishing like she had every other cycle. And the rings were a symbol of that love…

Standing there both Nathan and Audrey finally turned to one another as Vince’s unspoken answer crystallized for both of them.

“We’re supposed to get married?” Audrey questioned, her voice rising on the last as the magnitude of Vince’s implication hit her.

“Would that really be such a hardship?” Vince asked with a wide smile as he watched how Nathan and Audrey were still looking at one another as they both separately had to come to terms with where their feelings were ultimately going to take them.

Nathan heard Vince’s question and graced Audrey with an intense, open look of longing and love in his eyes; that half smile that she knew so well and that told her everything she needed to know without words. Even if they hadn’t already admitted to one another the depths of their feelings, she knew that what they had was the one real thing about her, something that was only hers and not Audrey Parker or Lucy Ripley’s…

She and Nathan were real and being with him forever… well there were no doubts in his mind, she could tell…and if she had to be honest, she didn’t have any either.

“No…” she replied, still looking at Nathan as she watched the brilliant smile slowly fill his face at her words as he reached out and caught her hand in his, reveling not only in the ability to feel her but with the knowledge that she wanted this too. “I guess not…”


	13. Chapter 13

“So, do we need to do this… now?” questioned Nathan, the slight nervousness in his voice audible to both Vince and Audrey and while Audrey reacted with a matching anxious expression Vince laughed aloud.

“No, just before the troubles are over,” Vince said, and he watched as Nathan and Audrey visibly relaxed ever so slightly. “The rings and the ceremony would be the binding ritual to cement your status together… ensuring your place here once the troubles are gone. It was very fortuitous that you both fell in love this cycle, or there’s no telling how long it would continue…”

“I guess for once the Chief was wrong,” Nathan remarked quietly, the memory of the Chief standing there in the cemetery telling him he couldn’t be in love with Audrey invading his thoughts.

“How’s that?” asked Audrey, suddenly remembering that she had never gotten a straight answer out of him about what he and the Chief had discussed when Kyle had inadvertently brought the dead back nearly a week earlier.

Nathan glanced to her, recalling her assurance that she’d get the truth out of him later, and if things had gone as planned when he’d arrived for their dinner… date, he suspected he might have let her quiz him on what had happened. But as it was, the Chief had publicly told him to take care of her, which for all intents and purposes in his mind had deliberately put his emotions for Audrey on display in that moment. But he’d yet to share with her exactly what the Chief had told him.

“You remember I told you that he said that you were important to the town?” he asked and Audrey nodded, recalling the conversation, “What I didn’t tell you was that he’d actually told me that I couldn’t be in love with you; that you were too important for us to be in love because you’d take risks for me…”

Audrey’s mouth dropped open briefly before snapping shut. Considering how the Chief had all but partnered them up, essentially creating the circumstances that had led to their current… emotional involvement the idea that he’d been against them together was a surprise.

“Are you sure he really wanted what he was telling you? I seem to recall Garland had a habit of trying reverse psychology on you more than once…” added Vince, reminding them both that he was still in the room with them.

“That does sound like him,” added Audrey, now having learned more about herself and how Garland had used Baker to get her here and more than likely keep her here when she would have left…

“Garland was nothing if not calculating when it came to protecting this town and you Nathan. Suggesting that you couldn’t be with Audrey would just…”

“Push me towards her more,” Nathan acknowledged with a slight sigh as he ran a hand up and back against his neck, rubbing there even though he couldn’t feel it. “I did tell him that he was wasting his time…”

At Nathan’s admission Audrey moved slightly to lay a hand on his, the ends of his hair brushing along her fingertips. Glancing over he gave her a half grin and she smiled back at him. It seemed that not only was fate conspiring to throw them together, with her the only one he could feel but the Chief had been in on it as well…

“I guess you showed him.”

“But I didn’t do what he told me I did need to do… protect you. If I had Baker would never have…” he stated sorrowfully, his hand coming away from his neck and dislodging her fingers from his own.

“You found me though,” she reminded him, her fingers curling over his, trying to ease that obvious pain she could see in his eyes and hear in his voice. “But why was the Chief so adamant you protect me? I usually am quire capable of taking care of myself.”

“Right now there are many people besides my brother that have… ‘opinions’ on the troubles. Reverend Driscoll left many who will follow in his footsteps,” interjected Vince, wanting to let Audrey know the depths of Garland’s fears and desire to keep her alive. “Over the years your arrival has not always been seen as a positive one, so there have been those who wish to kill you and those that are destined to protect you.”

“Destined to protect me?”

“That makes sense… Simon suggested that Audrey wouldn’t necessarily have to be the person who killed Duke… that she could have others do it for her. Duke’s been hunting for the person with the tattoo would he’d been told would kill him; was Simon somehow referring to that?”

“The tattoo belongs to old families in Haven. Over the centuries members of those old families have aided each incarnation of Audrey in helping the troubled.”

“Were the Hansen family one of them? I remember seeing Max with that tattoo,” Audrey recalled, the memory of running into Max Hansen hours before his death coming back to her.

“Yes.”

“That’s why Duke saw it on me… if it was passed down through family lines…” Nathan stated, making Vince’s eyebrow raise. He hadn’t known that Nathan had displayed the tattoo, but knowing the triggers he wasn’t surprised it had appeared.

“What about the Chief? He didn’t have one?” asked Audrey curiously.

“Not that I was aware of, but it doesn’t always appear in every generation, although I wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d shown it at one point in trying to defend Lucy.”

“But Nathan doesn’t have it now,” Audrey noted, reaching over and touching Nathan’s lower left arm reverently, the light touch of her fingers on his arm causing him to suck in a breath before he gathered his control once more.

“It has been known to be… invisible or even dormant all a person’s life. I do know that intense feelings, especially anger and fear can raise it to the surface.”

“So, my protective feelings for Audrey…” Nathan began before trailing off, realizing the circumstances that had made the tattoo visible to Duke.

“Duke most likely saw it because you were afraid for her life.”

“So you get a nifty tattoo when I’m in trouble now?” she remarked with a slight smirk and he glared at her half-heartedly.

“Not really what I want Parker,” Nathan replied, the fondness in the way he said her last name making her heart flutter in her chest briefly.

“So now what…”

Before she could say anything further Nathan’s cell rang and he gave Audrey a small smirk when he saw Duke’s name and number appear. He had gotten used to Duke being at his elbow for the last few days. Now they were back to their normal habits; Duke calling to complain and Nathan being equal parts annoyed and amused. He pressed the answer button and broght the phone to his ear.

“What now Duke?”

His eyes widened and he looked to Audrey quickly as Duke spoke.

“You’re sure? Okay… we’ll come to the boat and we can discuss this before you do anything stupid.”

“What’s going on?” Audrey asked quickly, concern lacing her voice.

“Duke’s brother is in town. Seems like Dave called him and told him he was needed in Haven.”

Vince paled visibly before them. He had known Dave was trying to stop Audrey and Nathan but the lengths he was willing to go to scared him. It was almost… vindictive. And considering how Dave had been when Sarah had been here… he wasn’t so sure that it wasn’t.

“That’s… not good,” Vince said slowly. “I didn’t want to mention it but… it seems that someone took the weapons box…”

“Dave,” stated Audrey and Nathan without even thinking twice about it and Vince nodded solemnly.

“I expect that he planned to have Lance return and attempt to convince Duke to join his cause or, failing that he would somehow convince Lance that he was doing his father’s sacred duty by hunting you down. The fact that Dave has the box and Lance has no idea of what his true legacy is makes me worried.”

“It would be too, if Duke hadn’t talked his brother into contacting Dave and luring him in so we can take him into custody.”

Audrey smiled and gave Nathan a look. She knew that they’d put aside their differences while she’d been kidnapped but the fact was that the two still weren’t quite on… friendly terms. But they had quite a while and lots of troubled people to help to let them fully repair that friendship once more.

“See, I always said the two of you could work together if you just put your minds to it.”

Nathan gave her a slight scowl, but no matter what he’d told her about never trusting Duke he grudgingly had to admit that the one-time con man had come through for him, for them, and they needed each other if they had any chance of ending the troubles once and for all.

“Don’t remind me. Let’s go.”

With that they turned and headed to the truck.

-x-

Nathan and Audrey had driven quickly to the Cape Rouge and once Nathan parked they got out of the Bronco, slamming the doors shut as they moved together towards the gang plank. There was no one on deck to greet them so Audrey moved towards Duke’s cabin below decks. As Nathan walked the path there memories of the last time he’d been there filled him and he reached out to catch Audrey’s hand in his briefly, causing her to pause and look back at him. The look on his face made her heart stutter and she moved to cup his jaw and cheek in her hand briefly, letting him know she understood and was there.

He nodded briefly before he eased away from her and then took the lead, directing them down and into Duke’s personal space. Within they found Duke sitting at a table with another man who had his back to them. At their arrival Duke lifted his empty glass in their direction.

“Officers,” Duke said with a cocky smile as Nathan and Audrey walked into the cabin.

At Duke’s words the man sitting with him turned and his features instantly reminded Audrey of Duke. Obviously this was the brother that Nathan had referred to.

“Duke, Lance,” Nathan said, acknowledging both men, having recognized Duke’s older brother by sight.

Standing Lance regarded the man and woman that had just walked onto his brother’s boat. The tall, dark haired man looked familiar and it took him a few minutes before he placed him.

“Nathan Wuornos?”

“It’s been a while,” he replied moving to the older man and reaching out a hand, which Lance caught and quickly shook.

“So, you’re going to help?” Audrey asked, her question breaking into the testosterone filled reunion and causing a slight questioning look to appear on Lance’s face.

“Sorry… Lance, this is Officer Audrey Parker,” Duke stated, forgetting he’d neglected to introduce her and not sure if his brother realized who she was.

Lance stood and stared, gauging the bright blue eyes and honey blond hair of the slim woman before him. He’d seen the pictures that his father had left for Duke in his journal and recognized her as the woman within them; her features were the same if her hair was different.

“The woman dad and Dave wanted you or me to kill,” he breathed, his voice now filled a bit with awe.

Nathan shifted ever so slightly closer to Audrey and Duke registered the movement. He clasped a hand over Lance’s shoulder and eased him back a step. Nathan was still on edge with Audrey’s kidnapping and right now any perceived threat to her he expected Nathan to go full on guard dog. And he really had no desire to watch Nathan try to take his brother apart…

“She’s also the woman that is going to help fix the troubles and who we’re going to help stay alive so she can do that.”

“Which I thought was why you brought us here,” reminded Nathan. “You know Dave Teagues is bad news, and if you can help us locate him…”

“He was expecting me to call him when I get into town,” Lance explained and Nathan found himself smirking slightly, his eyes drifting from Lance to catch Duke, and then Audrey’s gaze. “But I thought I’d make a stop first…”

Nathan nodded, glad that the older Crocker was as calculating and suspicious as his younger brother; now they had a chance to catch Dave and maybe, just maybe safeguard Audrey’s life while they ended the troubles once and for all.

“Okay then. So, how about you give him a call?”

-x-

Dave heard his phone ring and snatched it up. He’d been hiding in the old ranger station cabin waiting for something to break his way. It was secluded enough that he’d figured Nathan and the rest of the police force wouldn’t find him there.

“Lance… good to hear from you,” he said into the receiver, the relief in his voice audible.

On the other end of the line Lance spoke and Dave struggled to understand what he was being asked.

“I can meet you… at the lighthouse? In two hours? It will be tight, but of course.”

Clicking his phone closed, he sighed. Once he and Lance met he was certain that he could convince him to help him…

Quickly he packed up his meager things and started back towards the edge of the forest to where he’d hidden his car, hoping that he’d be able to avoid the Haven PD until he could get to the light house, and then he could get Lance disappear with him until the time was right to take action…


	14. Chapter 14

Lance pressed the button to disconnect his call with Dave and looked to Duke, Audrey and Nathan. He gave them a slight smirk before he shoved the phone in his jeans pocket, still bewildered by the fact that somehow his brother had convinced him to do this.

“He’s on his way.”

Nathan nodded ever so slightly at the news, his mind doing its best to reign in the violent impulses that he’d suppressed since learning of Dave’s role in Audrey’s kidnapping. Since her rescue he’d done his best to focus on Audrey, providing her and himself with some semblance of normalcy, but now, with Dave hours away from custody he was letting himself feel the rage and betrayal his actions had brought out in him. The thought of finally getting his hands on Dave Teagues just made him consider, ever so briefly the idea of just shooting the man, claiming self defense and letting the chips fall where they may.

Glancing over at Duke he saw an expression that Nathan recognized and understood - anticipatory. Of course it did make sense that Duke wanted Dave in cuffs just as much as he did; Audrey was his friend too and he’d been concerned for her welfare just like he had been. Considering everything, he wondered if they might have to flip a coin to see who got to rough up Dave before he got to the station.

Then his eyes slid to Lance once more and he wondered what would have happened if the man hadn’t come to see his brother before contacting Dave. He didn’t like what came to mind and he unconsciously slid a step closer to Audrey as he thought again about the still unknown forces that were still out there and potentially conspiring against them.

Still, all he needed was for Lance to play along with them a little longer; the trap was set but without the bait…

“So we just need you there at the lighthouse. You won’t need to do anything but if you aren’t there when Dave arrives, he’ll bolt.”

“If I don’t?” Lance asked with a dark tone, his voice trailing off a bit as he gauged what Nathan might do if he walked out on this whole mess now that he’d done what they wanted and set up Dave with his phone call.

“Lance…” Duke started, causing his older brother to turn and regard him.

Lance was taken aback by the stern look on Duke’s face. He had never seen his younger brother so… serious. All they years he’d been home, before their mother had died and their dad had caused things to fall apart Duke was a prankster, a troublemaker and all around pain in the ass. But now he seemed to have had made friends of cops of all people and found something important in his life… this plan to end the troubles once and for all.

So for his brother’s sake, he’d continue to help.

“Okay…” he stated, causing Duke to close his eyes before looking at him once again and giving him a tight smile.

“We appreciate it,” Audrey interjected, bringing the three men’s attention back to her, “we just need you there for Dave to see. Once he gets there we’ll take care of the rest.”

“I think I can handle that.”

“Thank you,” she replied and watched again the interaction between the brothers, and how both of them interacted with Nathan with a respectful deference… one that she suspected came from Lance, Duke and Nathan having all grown up together in this town.

She was once again reminded just what she didn’t have in her life: family, friends, and real memories. But she did have her job, her friendship with Duke and her relationship with Nathan and that was enough.

The earnest expression on the blondes face as she thanked him made Lance grin. He could see the appeal of the woman that his brother had explained his father wanted dead and his brother and Nathan so obviously cared about. Still, the whole thing with the troubles and the intrigue of Dave’s manipulation of himself to screw with some kind of plan, he really just wanted to help Duke and get the hell out of Haven again. And the sooner he helped them catch Dave the sooner he could leave.

“Well then, let’s not keep Mr. Teagues waiting…”

-x-

Duke had driven his jeep with Nathan and Audrey to the lighthouse, while Lance had taken his bike. He could leave his jeep in plain sight, knowing that Dave would recognize the Bronco but he doubted Dave would look at it twice his vehicle.

After they had arrived at the lighthouse they settled in to wait; Lance stayed outside the door to the lighthouse while Duke was inside with Nathan and Audrey. Once Dave arrived Lance’s part would be over and Nathan and Audrey would take him into custody.

At least that was the plan; if Dave tried to run for it, both Nathan and Duke had no qualms in shooting him.

Lance kept his post, hands shoved into the pockets of his leather jacket as he looked out along the road that wove up to the lighthouse. He was starting to worry… he hoped the older man hadn’t figured out what was going on and had fled. It seemed to take forever before he finally saw a small car driving up the road. It quickly made its way to the small area where Lance had parked his bike, passing Duke’s jeep without slowing.

As soon as he was parked, Dave clamored out of his car, adjusting his glasses before hurrying to make his way to the lighthouse where Lance stood. Observing the younger man whom he hadn’t seen in years, he mused how he reminded him a lot of Simon, but his face evoked his mother. He smiled a bit, thinking that maybe now that Lance was in Haven he could convince him to help, and maybe even get him to talk Duke into joining them.

“Dave…” Lance began, his eyes focusing on the man before him, knowing that he needed to play his part but after everything Duke had told him, he was worried he wouldn’t be able to keep a straight face for very long.

“Lance, I’m glad you’re here. We desperately need your help…” Dave said as he moved quickly to reach for Lance’s hand, planning on shaking it, but he was taken aback when Lance instead folded both arms across his chest, his eyes narrowing.

“To kill Lucy Ripley? Or Audrey Parker?” Lance suddenly asked, making Dave’s face pale. “Or do you want me to kill my brother and take his place in my father’s ‘crusade’ against the troubled?”

Dave took a stunned step back, his eyes going wide behind his glasses. He’d avoided explaining any of this on the phone, so that when they met he could be sure to frame the conversation to his benefit. But now…

“How…”

“See Dave, I know blood is thicker than water so when I got to Haven I came to see Duke… ask him what was up. And he was more than happy to fill me in.”

As if on cue the door to the lighthouse opened and Nathan stepped out, followed by Duke and then Audrey. Nathan found his fists balling at his sides as he got his first look at the man who’d wanted Audrey killed to stop her from fixing the troubles.

Dave saw the dark look of anger on Nathan’s face and froze, and then slid his gaze to Duke and found a similar expression was on face. Both men looked ready to rip him apart and he knew that he was in serious trouble. Finally his eyes drifted to look at the woman that had cause this mess and his mouth fell open in astonishment. Audrey’s expression wasn’t one of anger; she seemed… disappointed.

And it was with that simple look that Dave realized that he’d screwed up. That he should have listened to Vince… Audrey was different this time; everything was different.

Nathan walked past Lance and closer to Dave, who simply stood there, resigned now to his fate. Noting that Dave wasn’t trying to run, Nathan pulled out his cuffs and slowly made his way behind Dave, sliding the first cool metal hand cuff around Dave’s left wrist.

“Dave Teagues, you’re under arrest for conspiracy to kidnapping and an accessory after the fact,” announced Nathan as Audrey and Duke stood in the door to the lighthouse watching. “You have the right to remain silent…”

While Nathan continued to Mirandize Dave as he finished cuffing him, Duke and Audrey watched in rapt attention. Once Nathan asked if Dave understood is rights Duke’s eyes left Nathan and focused on Audrey. She stood there, arms now wrapped around her torso, eyes haunted. He didn’t know all of what had happened after Agent Howard had kidnapped her or how Dave was really involved but he guessed that seeing Dave in custody was more than a bit tough.

Of course if he had his way or if Nathan wasn’t the upstanding citizen and former chief that he was Duke suspected that Audrey would never have seen any of this and Dave would have ended up feeding the fishes in Haven Harbor.

“I really expected Nate to rip Dave apart once we found him,” Duke whispered loud enough that Audrey could hear him, prompting her to glance his way, her eyes dark and almost… frightened at Duke’s words.

“Nathan wouldn’t…”

“You didn’t see him when you first got grabbed. I thought he was gonna kill me…”

She looked away from him and watched as Nathan carefully led Dave down to where he’d brought his car. She knew from what they’d already discussed that her abduction had scared and distressed him. Hearing Duke clarify that Nathan’s behavior had been so… frantic and deadly just made it all the more important that he was doing what he was doing right now… walking Dave to sit in his car while he called for backup rather than taking out any of his anger on the older man.

And that was one of the things she loved about him.

“But he didn’t…” Audrey noted, her voice low as her emotions threatened to overcome her.

“Nope. But he could have… he would have if he’d needed to do it to find you. In the end he stopped himself from doing something stupid because he realized that he and I had something in common… we both cared about you. But don’t ever doubt that that guy down there would have moved heaven and Earth to find you.”

Audrey nodded at Duke’s words and with a brief sideways glance she moved away from him, quickly walking down the path to stand with Nathan where he waited for the patrol car to arrive so they could take Dave back to the station.

Because wherever he was going, she would be there with him…

-x-

Stan had ended up coming out to the lighthouse and he’d driven Dave back to the station. Audrey and Nathan drove Dave’s car back, parking it in the station’s lot before going inside to do the paperwork to hold him until the local district attorney could review the case. After trying to get Dave to talk to them with no results, they decided to let him sit in a cell overnight and think on it.

With a promise from Stan that someone would call them if Dave decided he wanted to make a statement before they tried talking to him again the next morning they got a ride to the piers so they could retrieve the Bronco and then headed back to her apartment at the Gull.

Several hours later Duke made his way up the stairs from the Gull to her place, finding Audrey and Nathan out on the deck, sitting in a couple of chairs as the sun set.

“I come bearing beer to celebrate,” he announced as he walked along the deck towards them, one hand lugging a bucket of beer on ice he’d brought from the Gull downstairs.

“If you’re bringing booze you’re welcome,” Nathan replied, somewhat humorously and Duke took a seat in the empty Adirondack chair beside them.

“Where’s your brother?” asked Audrey, genuinely curious.

“Lance already headed back out of town,” Duke stated as he set the bucket on the deck beside him. “He said that he really wanted nothing more to do with the craziness that is Haven and he felt that his sticking around just might encourage others to try and use him like Dave had.”

“That’s too bad. I would have liked to have talked with him more… gotten him to tell me all about you as a kid,” joked Audrey as Duke passed her a beer, which she in turn handed to Nathan with a soft smile, her hand catching his briefly, sending spikes of sensation through him at the incidental touch.

“Yeah, well that isn’t happening. Besides, Nate over there would probably be more than happy to tell you whatever stories about my misspent you from when we were kids that you want to hear,” he remarked as he handed her another beer which she kept this time, and he smirked before continuing, “So Vince says you get to stay this time because you and Nate hooked up?”

“Duke…” she warned before she swiped at Duke with her free hand, landing a solid hit on his shoulder.

As he rubbed the spot she’d hit Duke watched as Nathan reached over and laid his hand on hers, and she turned to look at him. He gave her a half smile and she returned it, her hand turning and intertwining their fingers briefly before Duke cleared his throat, making them break apart, their hands flying from one another.

Nathan’s hand unconsciously moved to press against his upper chest, covering the spot under his clothes where the ring the Chief had worn that sat on the chain around his neck; a ring which now had a companion – Sarah’s ring. Since leaving the Herald’s offices he’d put them both on the chain, waiting for the time when he and Audrey would need… want to use them.

But for now, they were still navigating the newness of their… relationship. And they still had an official date to go on at some point. Since talking with one another after seeing the former Agent Howard and airing out their situation, they had been more comfortable with their evolving relationship, and after seeing Vince… it was now just a matter of time.

“So, what’s next?” asked Duke out of the blue as he took a slug from his bottle.

“We’re going to start reaching out to those troubled people we already know… I’ll convince them its safe and we’ll work around your schedule to get them cured,” Audrey answered honestly.

“Well if we’re gonna start with people we know, you wanna go first Nate?” Duke asked, pointing to Nathan even as the other man shook his head.

When both Audrey and Duke looked at him, confused and concerned he held up his hand, pausing their expected questions as he knew he needed to try and explain himself.

“I’m last,” he said simply. “We spend whatever time it takes, weeks, months, years curing every troubled person in Haven and when we know the troubles are finally gone, and then I’ll go.”

“But…” Audrey began, her hand moving to lay over the exposed skin of his lower arm and he let his eyes close briefly at the contact, but forced himself to open them again, staring directly at her.

“We have a lot of people that really need the help, and sometimes that puts them and us in danger. And to best help them, I might need to… not feel…”

The weight of his comment hit her like a ton of bricks, and beside them Duke’s mouth dropped open ever so slightly. Nathan was wanting to keep his trouble because he expected that they might end up in a situation where his inability to feel could be a benefit. Audrey recalled how many times Nathan had just kept coming at someone when realistically he should have been on the ground and in pain: nails to the back, shot in the arm, hit by a car… the list went on. And here he was saying that his feeling that pain would be a… liability?

“Nathan…” she started to say, her eyes wide as she stared at him, pleas for him to reconsider dying on her lips as he smiled at her so wide that her heart constrict in her chest at the love she saw and felt when he looked at her like this.

“I can manage however long it takes until the troubles are over… as long as I can feel you…”

There was a long pause as they stared at one another, the emotions written plainly on their faces and Duke almost felt a little like a voyeur watching the two of them. It was only when Audrey started to lean towards Nathan, her lips poised to kiss him did Duke decide it was time to break things up.

“Ahem…”

Audrey turned from Nathan and Duke smirked as she blushed slightly, but she didn’t move her hand from Nathan’s arm. Duke glanced past her and caught Nathan’s eyes; the other man giving him a look that told him that he didn’t appreciate the interruption but understood Duke’s… aversion to their display of affection. There might have been a time when it could have been Audrey and Duke together, but things had not worked that way, much to Nathan’s s

“Sorry…” she stammered, her eyes barely meeting Duke’s.

“No problem. Just… save it for the bedroom. And never tell me anything.”

Audrey ducked her head, embarrassed and Nathan glared at Duke, causing the con man to grin at them both before taking a long drink of his beer. Brushing his thumb across her hand Nathan brought Audrey’s eyes back up to his and smiled at her, causing her to grin back. If a little bit of teasing was the price they had to pay for what they were finding with one another, it was more than worth it.

“So… when do we start?” questioned Duke before taking a pull from his beer.

“How about I make a few calls in the morning… start with the people most in need,” Audrey suggested, thoughts of Stu being unable to even touch his wife filling her mind. “Of course there are still those who don’t know they’re troubled to locate, and we need to keep a low profile so anyone Dave, the Rev or Agent Howard might have been working with don’t target them before we can help them…”

“Well, I guess we have our work cut out for us,” replied Duke sarcastically and Audrey frowned at him before she took a sip from her beer.

“That we do,” Nathan admitted before he took a swallow from his beer and then looked at Audrey and Duke seriously once again. “But we have an advantage now. We have each other and a game plan. This time will be the last cycle for the troubles.”

Duke and Audrey nodding in agreement, three beers reached across the space and clinked together, the dark brown bottle necks meeting. There was work to be done, and potentially still others that wanted to stop them, but with what they now knew they finally realized that this was a war that they could win.

\- End -

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, obviously the trio now has a job to do, a season’s worth of episodes of locating and helping troubled people but I think that this ends the story very well. I can’t tell you all how much I appreciated the early support of my story and to all of you that stayed through the end and those that left reviews, it meant a lot to me. Thanks for reading! Ms. J.


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